In General
Canceling and adding should be viewed as an advising opportunity, not merely an administrative process. The procedures for changing registration are designed to direct students to the staff in the best position to help them (e.g., adviser, course instructor, scholastic committee representative).

Students must cancel or add a course online or process a Registration and Cancel/Add form (see instructions below). In discussing this topic with students, the following points should be emphasized:

1. Students are registered for all courses on the enrollment statement.
2. Students will be held responsible for tuition and fees for courses in which they are registered, even if they never attend the courses. Moreover, if students do not attend a course but fail to formally cancel it, a grade of F will be entered on their transcript.
3. Students have not formally canceled or added a course until they have processed the cancel/add on the Web or submitted a completed Registration and Cancel/Add form to the Registration Center/One Stop.
4. Students are responsible for knowing and accepting any consequences of adding or canceling courses.

Adding Courses

Instructions for Adding

1. A permission number from the instructor or department is required for a student to
1. add a course that has closed;
2. add a course for which the student fails to meet course entry requirements (other than the class standing requirement indicated by the course number);
3. add a course during the second week of the semester.
2. Written permission from the instructor, the department, and the college is required to register for extra credit, independent study, directed study, directed research, or directed instruction. Students have until the end of the eighth week of the semester to register for these opportunities without needing to petition in their college office. Students bring proof of this permission (including any student/faculty contracts) to the Student Information Office in 49 Johnston Hall to complete these registrations. For more information, please see Independent and Directed Study Registration.
3. A permission number from the director of graduate studies in the department offering the course is required for all 8xxx-level courses.
4. Permission from the college office is required if:
1. The total number of credits after the change is more than 20. Only a CLA academic adviser or CSS representative may give approval for more than 20 credits.
2. The student is adding after the end of the second week of the semester. The student must initiate a petition. See the procedures outlined below.
5. Finally, the student must register on the Web or by turning in the completed registration and Cancel/Add form to One Stop.

Additions Before the end of the Second Week of the Semester
After students have officially registered, they may add courses through the end of the second week of the semester. Students do this by registering through the online Web registration or by completing a new Registration and Cancel/Add form (according to the instructions above) and processing it at the One Stop registration center in 200 Fraser.

1. Courses that are not controlled or that are still open may be added without special approval through the first week of the semester. However, students need online permission or a permission number from the instructor to add a closed class.
2. Instructor permission or a permission number is required for additions after the first week of the semester, regardless of whether the course is still open.

Additions after the end of the Second Week of the Semester
To add a course after the end of the second week of the semester, students must submit a petition to the scholastic committee; instructor permission is also required. The same procedure is followed in cases where a student wishes to add a course retroactively (after the end of the semester during which the offered course was concluded), although class closure is no longer an issue. Any form of written instructor permission is acceptable in the third week; instructor approval for petitions to late-add in the fourth week and later must at least be recently dated.

All undergraduate students may receive by petition a first-time late-add to be used to add one course after the eighth-week deadline but no later than the last day of class. An “FTLA” flag should be added to the student’s record.

There is an extended deadline (the eighth week) for adding directed study courses. See #2 under “Instructions for Adding,” above.

Cancelling Courses

Cancellations through the End of the Eighth Week of the Semester
When a student must cancel a course, every effort should be made to process the cancellation before the end of the eighth week of the semester. If the cancellation is processed by the end of the second week of classes, there will be no evidence on the transcript that the student was ever registered in the course. Beginning the Tuesday of the third week of classes for any 15-week term (May and Summer Session and IDL courses retain different cancellation deadlines that must be adhered to), cancellations will result in a W (for “withdrawal”) on the transcript, unless they are backdated by the One Stop office.

During the first eight weeks of the semester, there is no limit on the number of cancellations a student can process; however, there are a number of issues students should consider before dropping a course:

1. Students whose registrations drop below the 13-credit minimum will no longer be considered fulltime at the university and their place in the registration queue for the following semester is likely to be affected.
2. Students without an approved Request for Reduced Credit Load will pay for 13 credits regardless of their enrollment. If circumstances warrant petitioning (change in financial, work, or family responsibilities since the semester began, for instance) advisers should suggest that students fill out this online petition.
3. Students on financial aid should also consult with the Office of Student Finance at One Stop about the effect of a cancellation on their financial aid.
4. Students should be encouraged to verify minimum credit requirements with their health insurance provider before dropping below 12 credits.
5. Student athletes and international students should understand that they must adhere to minimum credit restrictions. (For more on these two groups of students, please view Advising International Students and Advising Student Athletes.

Cancellations after the Eighth Week of the Semester
Requests for late cancellations (cancellations after the eighth week of classes) are frequently symptomatic of academic or personal problems. Therefore, the following questions might well be explored with the student:

• If the student is encountering difficulty in this course, what is the source of the difficulty? Cancellation may not be appropriate for students who have the time, ability, and background needed to complete the work.
• What solutions other than cancellation are available (e.g., tutoring, obtaining assistance from the Learning and Academic Skills Center)?
• What are the possible consequences of this academic problem in regard to the student’s major, the likelihood of completing a CLA degree, or being admitted to the professional program he or she wishes to enter?
• Because canceling classes is not a satisfactory long-range solution to academic or personal problems, what can be done to prevent similar situations in the future?

Cancellations due to extenuating circumstances
There is no limit to the number of times students may be permitted to cancel courses for extenuating circumstances. Extenuating circumstances are defined as situations that significantly interfere with the student’s academic work that arise after the end of the eighth week of classes (therefore unforeseeable by the student during the cancel-add period) and that are beyond the student’s control. Illnesses, a death in the family, or an employer’s decision to change a work schedule are examples of circumstances that might be regarded as extenuating. Written verification of such circumstances is usually required; students fill out a petition and submit it to their college office.

** Due to advisers’ need to evaluate and evaluate and process these petitions, it is necessary that a student turn in all materials before the last-day-of-class deadline or the petition will become retroactive. If the student cannot provide the college advising office with all necessary petition materials before the semester ends, they may be advised to use their “One-Time-Only” cancellation for one of their classes (see next paragraph), which can then be reinstated retroactively if their regular petition is thereafter approved.

All undergraduate students may receive by petition a “One-Time-Only” discretionary cancellation to be used to cancel one course after the eighth-week deadline but no later than the last day of class. This discretionary cancel may be used only once during a student’s undergraduate enrollment on the Twin Cities campus and is in addition to any cancellations approved after the eighth week by the scholastic committee because of verified extenuating circumstances or because of complete cancellations. When the One-Time-Only cancellation is used, a “OTDU” tracking flag is added to the student’s record.

If the student’s request is approved, the representative indicates this on the petition form and enters an online approval to allow the student to cancel the course. If the request is not approved, the representative indicates this on the petition form.

When a petition for late cancellation is granted, the following wording should be added both to the petition and the Registration and Cancel/Add form:

• “Do not process after (month/day/year).”
• The date entered should be two weeks from the date of approval but not later than the last day of instruction. The online approval will be deleted after the recorded date.
• The student completes the procedure by processing the approved petition and the Registration and Cancel/Add form at the One Stop office in 200 Fraser.

Complete Exit
Students may request to withdraw from their entire term enrollment through the last day of instruction by filling out a petition for a complete exit in their college office. Complete exits are automatically approved, and can be processed in the college advising office by the adviser in PeopleSoft.

Tuition Refunds
Tuition refunds are granted only under special circumstances. In rare circumstances, a student who stopped attending class long before initiating the cancellation process may request to have the cancellation backdated so his or her tuition may be reduced. Students may request a refund by filling out a refund petition at One Stop registration center in 200 Fraser. The Office of Student Finance strictly adheres to the August 31 refund request deadline for any given academic year (Fall, Spring, May/Summer Session requests must be in by the August 31 deadline following enrollment).

Leave of Absence
Students who plan to stop out for one or more semesters (excluding summer and May sessions) should meet with an adviser to complete a Leave of Absence form. An approved leave of absence allows returning students to complete the degree requirements in effect when the student started, rather than the degree requirements in effect at the time of return. Students with an approved Leave of Absence form can stop out for up to 2 academic years before they will be held to new degree requirements. Students without a Leave of Absence risk being held to new degree requirements after an absence.

CLA students are expected to enroll continuously and to plan thoughtfully. However, students may need to leave school for a brief period. Registration with the OCS (off campus study, e.g., NSE), the FoSt designator (foreign study), or through College of Continuing Education (excluding independent study, e.g., IS) is not considered “stopping out.”

Advisers should consider the following when advising students about a proposed absence:

• Discuss the impact of the absence on the student’s education plans.
• Review the student’s probation status.
• Encourage the student to keep in regular contact on issues of transfer credits, completing program prerequisites elsewhere, and curricular or program changes that may occur while the student is away.
• Encourage the student to update her or his address on the One Stop website.
• Advise the student to call their advising office at mid-semester time of the semester before they will return to discuss advising and registration procedures.

For more information, see Leaves of Absence.

Cancellations After the Last Day of Instruction
Under certain circumstances, students may be permitted to cancel courses after the semester ends (i.e., after the last day of class instruction, during or after the commencement of final exam week). This type of cancellation is usually referred to as a “retroactive cancellation.” The scholastic committee distinguishes between the following two types of retroactive cancellations:

1. Complete Retroactive Cancellations: Requests from students seeking to retroactively cancel all their courses for a particular semester are often approved on a One-Time-Only basis, providing the students can show they did not take final exams in any of their classes. Students must petition the scholastic committee and supply verification of the last date of attendance from each of their instructors.
2. Selective retroactive cancellations: Requests from students seeking to retroactively cancel part of their registration for a particular semester are rarely approved.

Petitions for complete or selective retroactive cancellations must be initiated within one year of the term affected. Petitions initiated a year or more after the term in question are routinely denied.

Occasionally, students request retroactive cancellations involving two colleges — the one in which they are currently registered and the one in which they were registered when the course(s) in question were taken. The petition should be initiated and acted on by the college of current registration in consultation with the college of previous registration. Both colleges must be in agreement for the cancellation to be approved. College permission to retroactively cancel a course does not guarantee that a student will receive a tuition refund. Students must petition separately for tuition refunds or waivers through the One Stop registration center in 200 Fraser Hall.