LDT Online MEd

For Students of the Learning, Design, and Technology Programs

Dropping a Course as a World Campus LDT Student

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Image of an origami ball transforming into a number of colorful origami cranes.

Sometimes the need arises to drop a course that you currently enrolled in. While this process seems simple, especially in the era of instantaneous digital communication, there are a number of considerations about course drops that impact the consequences that a student might experience as a result of decision.

Course drop process for World Campus graduate students

The World Campus Dropping a Course reference page details the drop process. The reference page includes a video tutorial showing how to drop a course using LionPATH.

LDT students do not need instructor permission to drop a course. LDT students do not need academic advisor approval to drop a course. LDT students do not need to fill out any forms from the Graduate School to drop a course. If you drop a course with LionPATH you should not be asked for additional permissions, approvals, or forms.

Drop vs. Withdrawal

There’s an important distinction in terminology between drop and withdrawal. Discontinuing enrollment in a single course (or multiple single courses) is called a “drop” at Penn State. When a student withdraws, s/he is discontinuing enrollment in all courses, and effectively ending their student relationship with the university for the term. If a student is registered to take only one course in a term then drops that one course without entering another available course, that action is considered a withdrawal. The instructions for reducing your credit hours to zero and withdrawing from the term are found on this page.

Resume Study Request

When a student withdraws from a term, s/he will need to file an online Resume Study request in order to request permission to register for future courses at Penn State. Resume Study requests are subject to review and approval of the program coordinator and the faculty of the LDT Online Program.

Changing overall number of credits

When a student is enrolled in four or more credit hours (i.e. two courses for 6 credit hours) and s/he drops a 3-credit course and does not enroll into another 3-credit course before midnight on the same day, then the overall number of registered credits for the term decreases. That decrease in overall credits is subject to fees (see below). Contact the Bursar’s office for more information about changing your overall number of credits.

Timing is critical

In general, the safest time to drop a course or withdraw from the term is before the day when the course officially begins. If you wish to drop the course or withdraw from the term after the course has begun, and if you wish to avoid a late drop tuition adjustment (fee), you must submit the drop or withdrawal request during the regular drop/add period for the course. During the fall and spring terms, the dates for the drop/add period are posted on the University’s Academic Calendar.

For the LDT Online Program’s courses offered during the summer term, the drop/add deadline must be researched individually on LionPATH. We’ve written a separate post about finding summer course regular drop/add deadlines in order to help our students make decisions in time to avoid tuition adjustment penalties.

Be very aware of fees and adjustments

There are often financial ramifications for dropping a course. The cost of the fees and adjustments associated with dropping a course depends on the date when the course is dropped in relation to the start of the term or the start of class.

Please note that the LDT program faculty and staff do not assess these fees and adjustments. As your program faculty and advisors, we are not the best source of information about any financial transactions with the University. If you need information about the financial details of course drops and term withdrawals, please utilize the following resources:

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