A change to the Voluntary Withdrawal policy was put into effect beginning with the Summer 2019 semester. It applies to undergraduate and associate diploma students on all three campuses (Guelph, Guelph-Humber and Ridgetown).
Under the previous policy, if a student wanted to drop all of their courses after the semester began, they had to speak with their Program Counsellor and submit a form to Enrolment Services. This process created barriers and delays for students.
The revised policy allows students to drop all of their courses on WebAdvisor up until the last day of classes. A form does not need to be submitted.
A student who wishes to withdraw from a semester after the last class day will not be able to drop all of their courses on WebAdvisor. They will need to submit a request for academic consideration through their Program Counsellor.
Before withdrawing from the semester, please consider the following:
- A student may withdraw from all courses with no academic penalty up to the last class day (as published in the Schedule of Dates). However, withdrawals may have financial penalties; the portion of tuition and fees that is refunded will depend on the date of withdrawal and the refund schedule.
- A student who is assessed as "Required to Withdraw" based on Fall term results can register for the Winter semester on probationary status. If the student voluntarily withdraws from – or decides not to register for – the Winter semester, they will have the "Required to Withdraw" status applied. A student with a "Required to Withdraw" status will not be allowed to register for courses for two semesters, and they will need to apply for readmission if they would like to return after those two semesters. Readmission is not guaranteed. To avoid having the "Required to Withdraw" status applied, students should consider maintaining registration in one course for the Winter semester. If the student achieves the required minimum semester average for that course, the "Required to Withdraw" status will not be applied. Please contact your Program Counsellor if you have any questions.
- A student who does not register in a program of study for six or more consecutive semesters is required to apply for readmission if they wish to continue at the University of Guelph. A semester with voluntary withdrawal counts as a registered semester. All three semesters of the academic year – Summer, Fall and Winter – are included in the calculation.
- A student receiving financial assistance through the Ontario Student Assistance Program or any other award/scholarship program is strongly advised to contact Student Financial Services regarding the status of that award upon withdrawal. Their OSAP application will be reassessed to reflect the actual number of weeks of study that were completed.
- Residence room charges and meal plan fees will be refunded on a PRO RATA basis.
- When the extended Health Insurance fee has been paid (and not refunded), it provides coverage for the duration of the year even if the student withdraws from the University. Exchange students have coverage for the duration of the semester. There is no refund of the fee if the student withdraws from the University after the fifth class day.
- A student who withdraws from the University must return all outstanding loans from the Library immediately upon withdrawal regardless of the original due date. Any items not returned will be declared "lost" and charged to the student's account.