By Devin Dziuk
With the new six-drop rule in effect, counselors are trying to help students process exceptions when dropping courses for personal reasons.
“The reasons to drop a course can get creative,” Chair Judy Kovacs-Long said Oct. 29.
The six-drop rule applies to incoming freshman. Students have up to six drops in their entire college career.
Kovacs-Long said students drop classes because of changes in work schedule, child care, medical issues, and most often, failing a class.
Students who think they may qualify for an exception can see a counselor after obtaining a drop slip from the instructor.
Counselor Lisa Black said students have come to her for advice on dropping.
Black spoke with a student who was taking four courses and intended to drop three of them. She advised the student to drop all of her courses because the three courses that the student would have dropped would have counted toward three of her six drops.
There are ways that you can avoid a penalty toward the six-drop rule. One way is completely withdrawing from all courses for the semester, which will be recorded as a withdrawal from the college.
Whether a drop or a withdrawal, a student will still receive a W on the transcript. Another way to avoid the penalty is to have a legitimate reason for dropping.
According to Texas Legislative Session SB 1231, there are six exceptions to the six-drop rule. They are severe illness, care of a sick family member, death in the family, active duty, work schedule change, or “other good cause.”
All of these situations need official documentation from a physician, copy of death certificates or obituary, military orders and letter from employer. Kovacs-Long said counselors are starting to see students with these types of issues and are finding ways to address them.
Some things that counselors are looking at is the history of the student to see if the student is consistently dropping courses or has good grades.
After a counselor sees that a student might be eligible for an exemption and have a legitimate reason for dropping the course, documentation from the counselor is then handed off to admissions and records for processing.
The exception will be documented on the final transcript.
Drops also can apply toward the three-peat rule. Under the three-peat rule, students who repeat a class for the third time will then have to pay out-of-state tuition for the course.
For example, a student is taking a course for the second time and has the maximum of six drops. If the student drops that course the student will then fall under the three-peat and the six drop. The student will automatically receive an F and must pay out-of-state tuition to repeat the course.
Kovacs-Long encourages students to consider how a drop on their transcript will effect them and first seek help from instructors and tutors.