Graduate Drop and Withdrawal Policies and Deadlines

Students who no longer wish to attend a course for which they are registered have the option to drop or withdraw from the class. The determination of whether a student is eligible to drop or withdraw is based on how much of the course has already taken place. Graduate students must request to be dropped or withdrawn from their courses via email to registrar@hamline.edu or in person at Student Administrative Services, located in East Hall.

It is the student’s responsibility to request enrollment changes of any kind. Instructors are not permitted to drop or withdraw students from classes under any circumstances. Non-attendance does not result in an automatic drop.

Dropping a course: Students may drop their course if they are within the drop period. Dropping a course means:

• No notation of the course recorded on transcript;
• No tuition owed;
• Return of all financial aid, if applicable. 

Deadlines for dropping a class are based on how many credits a course is worth and are as follows:

Fall and Spring Terms (and Summer as well for School of Business courses):
4 credits: 14 calendar days from the start date of the course*
3 credits: 10 calendar days from the start date of the course*
2 credits: 7 calendar days from the start date of the course*
1 credit: 2 calendar days from the start date of the course*

For example, if you are enrolled in a 3 credit course that begins on September 3rd, you would have until September 12th to drop.

Winter Term:
All courses: 2 calendar days from the start date of the course*

Summer Term (except for School of Business courses):
4 or 3 credits: 7 calendar days from the start date of the course*
2 or 1 credits: 2 calendar days from the start date of the course*

*Notes:

• The start date of a course counts as the first calendar day in the drop period.
• If a course’s duration is less than the number of calendar dates in the drop schedule, the course must be dropped the day after it begins. 
• If the course meets 2 days or less, the course must be dropped prior to the start of the course.
• If a course’s drop date falls on a non-business day, drop requests will be honored if received by the next business day.

Exceptions to drop deadlines:

• MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults students follow the above for non-residency terms. During residency terms, students may drop up to 10 days prior to the start of the residency and owe no tuition. If dropping fewer than 10 days before the start of the residency, 100% of the tuition will be owed. 
• Summer Writing Workshops must be dropped by June 30. If dropping after June 30, 100% of the tuition will be owed.

Withdrawing from a course: Students who wish to stop attending a course after the drop deadline must request a withdrawal. Withdrawing from a course means:

• A grade of “W” recorded on transcript;
• Tuition owed based on effective date of withdrawal;
• Recalculation of all financial aid, if applicable. 

In all cases, a request to withdraw from a course must be received prior to the last day of the class.