Dropping Classes? Understand The Financial Aid Impact

When you drop one or more classes with a "W" on your record, there may be short-term and long-term consequences. Please consider the following information as you make your decision.

Factors that impact financial aid include, but are not limited to:

• When you drop a class or classes
• Completely withdrawing from classes
• The number of remaining credits you have for the semester
• The type of financial aid that has been disbursed to your student account
• Your attendance in the class
• Your prior record of attempted and completed credits (Satisfactory Academic Progress)
• Existing financial aid HOLDS on your BroncoWeb records

The immediate impact you experience may include repaying some or all of your grants and loans, becoming ineligible to continue working in a work-study position, and having your student loans go into "Repayment" or to begin the grace period.

In addition, your Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) will typically be negatively impacted and you may find that you are ineligible for future semesters of federal financial aid! Read the Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy for more details.

Many renewable scholarships and grants have renewal criteria based on the number of credits you have completed. Be sure that you also take this into consideration before you withdraw from one or more classes.

Here is a tool used by Boise State Financial Aid Representives when responding to questions from students: Comparison of Complete Withdrawals and Dropping Classes.

Please note that receiving a grade of "F" in one or more classes is often treated in the same manner as withdrawing based on reports provided by professors.

If you are thinking about completely withdrawing from your classes, it would be very wise for you to read the Complete Withdrawal Policy.

Posted: 09.15.2011