Raia Blankenship
Withdrawals later in semester count against six-drop rule.
By James Russell
jrussell65@student.alamo.edu
The census date is the official day in the semester a student can drop a course without it being recorded on their academic record.
“It’s a statewide day for Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to report their enrollment,” Director of Enrollment Martin Ortega said in an interview March 18.
Institutions of higher education receive state allotments for two years based on enrollment on the census date.
During the first week of school, advisers were in the mall handing out information about the census date, but that was only during the first week, academic Adviser Norma Ramirez said in an interview Feb. 18.
Students are informed through email about what census date is and when it occurs. Ramirez said a new notification method, such as texting, might be helpful.
“If a student drops from a course after the census date, they get a withdrawal on their academic record,” Ramirez said. “It would be best not to drop courses at all and to finish the course even if the grade isn’t what you want.”
Students can retake the course, replacing the previous grade with a better grade. Students should save their drops for something that really can’t be helped, she said.
Once a student’s tutoring options are exhausted, they can choose to drop a course.
Students can only drop courses six times in after the census date for their whole academic career here at the college, Ramirez said.
Students who have financial aid must maintain a minimum 2.0 GPA to keep financial aid.
If they drop below that, they lose their financial aid, Rose Carreon-Munoz, senior associate director of financial aid, said in an interview Feb. 15.
If students can get the GPA back up, they can get financial aid back, but a student can only appeal for a return of aid one time, Munoz said.
She said students should not drop a course because the financial aid will change depending on the hours the student is enrolled in after the drop.
“If teachers would talk to the students more about census and really push for students to know, it would help,” English sophomore Andrew Vasquez said in an interview Feb. 19.
Informing students about the census date early on is important because it occurs very early in the semester, Vasquez said.
Census date for the spring 2019 16-week semester was Feb. 6., the 12th day of the semester.
“Students can lose track of time and sometimes miss the census date because of their workload in and out of class,” Vasquez said.
English Professor Lennie Irvin, Faculty Senate president, said a new emphasis on each faculty member’s productive grade rate puts pressure on faculty to pass students.
“Faculty feel as if they’re being pressured to pass students due to productive grade rate, now at 70 percent, the target goal for pass rate of students for all classes,” he said in an interview Feb. 19.
If teachers don’t have at least 70 percent of a class pass with a grade of 70 or higher, they can be at risk of having to devise an improvement plan, Irvin said.
“Students should drop before the census date if the class doesn’t work for them,” Irvin said.
If a student is struggling to learn a subject, staying after class receiving help from the teacher and going to tutoring for help at tutoring labs, such as the SLAC lab, which is open 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday, and 9 a.m.- 1 p.m. Saturday in Room 707 of Moody Learning Center.
Students can make tutoring appointments at 210-486-0165 or sac-slac@alamo.edu.
For more information, visit www.alamo.edu/sac/about-sac/college-offices/slac/.
Once a student’s tutoring options are exhausted, they can choose to drop a course.
Students may drop courses prior to the census date by logging in to ACES. After the census date, students can go to advising to get withdrawal slips for each course they choose to drop, and take slips to admissions and records in Room 216 of Fletcher Administration Center for processing.
Classes for Flex 2 begin March 25 and the census date is April 1.
Students can see the assigned adviser on the My Page tab in ACES.
Advising is open 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday on the first floor of Moody. The center remains open until 7 p.m. Tuesdays.
For more information, call advising at 210-486-0334 or visit https://www.alamo.edu/sac/about-sac/college-offices/advising/institutes/business-public-service-institute/.
