Written by Jamel Shorter, Staff Writer

Students in college can get very overwhelmed with classes, extracurricular activities and trying to have a social life. This leads some to make the decision to drop a class that they might be having trouble in or that they are near failing. This is referred to as withdrawing from a course and this does a lot more than what it sounds.

Withdrawing from a course can actually push back your anticipated graduation time significantly.

According to VSU’s withdrawal policy, Area A and Area D courses are vital to graduation; they are your core classes. These areas consist of English, math and science classes. If you withdraw from a class in one of these areas, for example your freshman year of college, you will eventually have to take it during your sophomore year. Majority of these core classes are prerequisites for major classes, such as chemistry and computer Science.

VSU and the University System of Georgia will allow a student to withdraw from five courses their entire college career. After your five withdrawals, you will automatically receive a WF—which means withdraw failing—for any course that you withdraw from. Students that have a “withdraw failing status,” and still needs that particular course to graduate will be required to retake the course again.

There are some courses that are only offered at certain times of the day, like an astronomy course at night or a class that is taught by an adjunct professor, meaning they teach at another school. These courses are particularly hard to withdraw from due to their relevancy in Area D and Area F, which are classes that are appropriate to your major.

Students who receive financial aid should be advised that when they withdraw from a course it could affect your financial aid eligibility. If students don’t pass 67 percent of the attempted classes during a calendar year, including the classes they have withdrawn from, they could potentially lose their financial aid.

Withdrawing from courses can have many negative impacts on graduation rates and how you pay for attending college. The withdrawal policy at VSU advises that students withdraw if they are in danger of failing the course, medical emergencies withdrawal, meaning you are ill and won’t have the time to finish the course at the best of your abilities, or a hardship withdrawal, which is to be completed after the withdrawal date deadline.