Deciding to withdraw from a course can be challenging. Whether you’re considering a change in your academic path or facing personal difficulties that affect your studies, it’s important to understand your options and the potential impact of your decision.

Before You Withdraw

1. Talk to Your Instructor
   Discuss your concerns with your course instructor. They may have strategies to help you improve before the term ends.
2. Consult Your Academic Advisor
   Meet with your academic advisor to review your course load, study strategies, and options for retaking the course in the future.
3. Know the Requirements
   Be aware of course load requirements and the implications of a VW. If you have a government student loan, are a sponsored student, a Bison athlete, or are in another situation that requires a minimum course load, this is especially important.
4. Check Your Program Requirements
   Refer to the First Year Planning Guide or the Academic Calendar to understand where this course fits into your intended or current program.
5. Consider Prerequisites
   Verify if this course is a prerequisite for upper-level courses in your program.
6. Look at Future Offerings
   Check current and previous Summer Term schedules to see if the course will be offered again this year.

Important Notes on VW and Your Student Record

• No refund will be issued for a course withdrawn via VW.
• VW’d courses will be recorded on official transcripts and student records with a final grade of VW.
• Courses cannot be withdrawn after the VW deadline has passed.

For information visit the important dates and deadlines page.

Making the choice to withdraw from a course can be difficult. Whether you need to take a break or are not resonating with the courses content, it is important that you understand your options and the impacts of Voluntarily Withdrawing from a course.

How to drop a course in New Aurora

• Select the “Open Registration dashboard” card. 
• Select the Add or Drop Classes link. 
• Select the winter term 2024 using the ‘Select Term’ option.
• Select ‘Add or Drop Classes’.
• On your current list of classes, locate the course(s) you want to drop.
  • Next to these courses will be a drop-down box, select ‘Voluntary Withdraw Web’.
• Click ‘Submit Changes’ at the bottom of the screen.

Before you drop a course…

• Talk to your Instructor.
  • Speak with your course instructor about your concerns and if there are strategies for improvement before the end of term.
• Talk with your academic advisor.
  • For advice and tips on course load, study strategies, and possible options for repeating the course in the future.
• Be aware of course load requirements and implications of a VW.
  • Sponsored students, students on government student loans, Bison athletes, or any other situation that requires a minimum course load.
• Check the First Year Planning Guide or the Academic Calendar.
  • These documents will help ensure you know where that course fits into your intended or current program.
• Check to see if the course is required as a prerequisite for upper-level courses within your program.
• See if the course is being offered again in the upcoming summer term schedule if you plan to try and repeat it.

VWs and your Student Record:

• No refund will be issued for a VW’d course.
• VW’d courses will be recorded on official transcripts and student records with a final grade of VW.
• Courses cannot be withdrawn from after the VW deadline has passed.

For information visit the important dates and deadlines page.

As a UM student, you’re able to access UM Achieve. UM Achieve is a software accessible through JUMP, which allows you to run a degree audit to see how many courses you’ve completed so far within your degree requirements.  UM Achieve is linked to Aurora, and any time you add/drop a course, you can run a new audit and your recent course changes will be reflected.

If you’re unsure about your course selection, visit an Academic Advisor and discuss your options before the November 18 Fall Term Voluntary Withdrawal (VW) deadline. Consider Distance and Online Education (DE) courses or a Summer Term course, it’s a great way to lighten your course load during Fall and Winter Terms. Remember, all VW courses will be subject to Limited Access.

Important Dates:

• Monday November 18, 2019 – Fall 2019 Term Voluntary Withdrawal (VW) Deadline.
• Wednesday, November 20, 2019 – Registration Opens for Winter/Summer term spanning DE courses.
• Monday March 16, 2020 – Summer Term Registration Access Times viewable in Aurora.
• Monday, March 23, 2020 – Registration Opens for Summer Term courses.

Some things to remember:

• No refund will be issued for a VWd course;
• VWd courses will be recorded on official transcripts and student records;
• Courses cannot be withdrawn from after the VW deadline has passed;
• Students who VW courses are subject to Limited Access;
• Courses which are not dropped by this deadline will be assigned a final grade.

For information on VW and other dates and deadlines, visit the Registrar’s Office’s dates and deadlines webpage.

How do I check my hold status: 

1. Log in into your Aurora
2. Select Student Records, and then
3. Select View Holds. From there you will be able to determine the type of hold you have.

 What kind of hold do I have?

• Typically, holds will fall into two categories, academic or administrative
  • Academic holds are often a result of a required transit from U1 into the Faculty of Arts or Science, a lack of a Major, Minor, and/or Concentration declarations, or a pending disciplinary action.
  • Administrative holds are a result of unpaid tuition and/or other university fees, outstanding library books, parking fines and/or other fines.

What do I do?

Don’t ignore it! Particularly if this is an academic hold, your Academic Advisor can help.  If you need help understanding the hold, or you want to talk about your options, these are the best people to see.

When it comes to paying your tuition fees, you need to clear that up immediately. Students with outstanding balances may have been de-registered (withdrawn) from their courses and been placed on hold. Again, if you have any issues with your account, see your advisor, please don’t suffer in silence. In certain cases, your advisor may be able to help you get off hold and into classes.

To clear up other outstanding balances, you need to contact the appropriate office. For example, parking fines are paid with parking services, material fees accrued within the faculty, school or college are paid directly to them.

What if I just ignore it?

It is not a good idea to put it off or ignore a hold on your account. Address things as soon as possible! 

The hold is lifted – now what?

Once your account is back in good standing, you may find that you were removed from some courses.  If the courses are full now, you should consult with an Academic Advisor.  Run a degree audit in UM Achieve to match your completed and current courses against the degree requirements, it’s linked to Aurora so any time you add/drop a course, you can run a new audit and your recent course changes will be reflected in the new report.

Some things to remember:

• No refund will be issued for a VWd course;
• VWd courses will be recorded on official transcripts and student records;
• Courses cannot be withdrawn from after the VW deadline has passed;
• Students who VW courses are subject to Limited Access;
• Courses which are not dropped by this deadline will be assigned a final grade.

For information on VW and other dates and deadlines, visit the Registrar’s Office’s dates and deadlines page. VW dates for summer session courses vary.