I attended a big state U for about 80 credits. 8 years ago I moved home to care for low-income ill parents. When I first moved I thought I could finish my BA at a nearby commuter U. I enrolled for courses prior to semester but it was a stressful period with no time – I never managed to attend, not one lecture.
Parents have passed, I’m a single mother with one child, and new job that provides tuition help. I need to complete BA to earn promotion and I’d like to pursue a one year masters applicable to job. But when I went online to enroll at commuter U, they have three 0.0 (F) grades on my transcript and hold for balance from 8 years ago! I don’t know balance, they told me to come see in person – it could be a massive sum? There is nothing on credit bureau report.
At my state U you’d be totally dropped from classes you didn’t show for first or second lectures and/or non-payment. I asked around and everyone I know said their university was same or latest they’d be dropped is non-attendance plus missing first exam. Outside of expenses for courses I didn’t pursue, my transcript is destroyed, making my undergrad GPA too low for promotion (after BA completion) and will prevent me from qualifying for my masters program.
The commuter U has a shaky rep and awful completion rates, which makes me wonder if they’re operating in predatory and exploitative ways to increase revenue? Advice to get fees and 0.0 grades removed?
I don’t this is evidence of either predatory or exploitative practices- at my own kids U’s (well known places) it was explicit that not showing up, not moving into a dorm, not activating your security card- NONE of these is sufficient to un-enroll in the university. The ONLY way to un-enroll is to actively un-enroll- visit the bursar’s office with a written letter that you are withdrawing, visiting the housing office to cancel your housing contract, emailing the registrar to inform them that you will not be attending any courses this semester because you have officially withdrawn.
You need to go see them in person, I don’t think this is a scam, it’s just their policy. Not showing up is NOT evidence of withdrawing. See if you can come to an agreement- pay a nominal sum to clear your account, have them process a retroactive withdrawal, then after working things out financially with the bursar, go see the registrar to have your transcript retroactively changed to reflect that although you applied and were accepted to this college, you never enrolled. If they won’t clear the grades, at least ask them to change them to “W” (for withdrew" instead of flunking.
This is a case that may require you to appeal those Fs with the Dean of Students, and have them struck from your record. Be ready for some runaround and bureaucracy. At many colleges this kind of mistake would be forgiven if you have a compelling reason for not attending/not dropping. Illness/death of a loved one is often counted as one of those reasons. Good luck.
This past semester I had to give an F to a student who never showed up once. I wrote to them several times advising to drop, but they never did. Registrar’s office advised me to put the grade in as an F. Said it would “get the student’s attention.” My assumption is that when that happens, it may be changed to a W, but I’m not sure of that. Just know I had to give an F, according to procedures.
At the Institution where I worked, instructors could assign one of 3 Fs: F-never attended, F-stopped attending (they put in a date of last known activity in class), and F-student attended and failed academically. We had 3 kinds due to Return to Title IV regulations.
We contacted students who weren’t attending instructing them to drop via any email address or phone number we had on record, But many never followed through.
So the college 1) keeps 100% of revenue; 2) clogs a space when there may be students who may want to enroll in the class; 3) ruins countless transcripts with Fs to “get attention”?
Why would my highly competitive flagship U drop students for not attending lecture #1 and #2, but a commuter college doesn’t? If you’re in the business of helping students, who exactly does this help? Seems like a tactic only schools struggling with headcount and desperate for revenue would pursue. Very punitive, without a care for the students it permanently harms.
I can’t help but think how many thousands of low-income students this backwards “policy” has screwed over the years. Car breaks down, can’t attend, no internet connection at home … few years later want to re-enroll, discover all these F grades, give up and never return. This is so predatory and punitive. It’s making me sick to my stomach.
This happened to me in the ‘70’s. I was taking one class. My stepfather died suddenly and I went home to take care of my mother. I forgot about the class in my haste to get home. In my experience, if you have been doing well in your current classes, the F’s in the past won’t be as much of an obstacle as expected . You can explain them. Your GPA starts fresh at a different school. That said it might be useful to look into converting those F’s to W’s.
There are policies throughout one’s adult life that could be construed as “punitive”. Why should I have to file a tax return to get a refund- after all, it’s my money, the IRS should just tote up my earnings at the end of the year and send me a check. Why do I have to show a photo ID when I show up at my doctor’s office to prove that I am who I say I am… and am not a friend or neighbor without health insurance? Why do I have to give my landlord a security deposit- can’t they trust me that I’m not going to remove the oven and sell it for parts- they should inspect after I move out, and then bill me for damage- why do they get to hold on to my money for the entirety of the lease when everyone knows I’m responsible and clean?
I could go on for an hour. The drop policy at your college was NOT designed to screw you, I promise. It’s a policy developed with thousands of students over the decades in mind. No college can manage its enrollment, figure out which classes go in the big auditorium and which go in small seminar rooms, which professors get a TA to help with grading and which one’s don’t, how many maintenance workers are needed for the night shift to sweep up after classes end, etc. without a way of monitoring “how many students are going to actually show up tomorrow”.
You’ve got two choices- hightail it over to the bursar’s office and work out a deal, or seethe that the policy is predatory and unfair and has hurt you (and hundreds of other low income students) in myriad ways.
Which one gets the job done? You tell me.
And for the rest of your life you’ll get to observe all the punitive policies that are out there. My health insurance (private and costs a fortune) allows me to choose any oncologist within a 100 mile radius if I’m unlucky enough to be diagnosed with cancer, but has a very short list of neurologists, psychiatrists, and gynecologists. Why am I getting punished for having the chronic conditions that I have… when the “lucky” folks with cancer get to make an appointment and get seen the next day??? I pay the same premium, it’s so unfair.
It may or may not be unfair, but it’s the policy and it’s spelled out in a 500 page book which is sent to every policy holder. My guess is that your college’s drop policy is ALSO spelled out somewhere.
Your enrollment is a contract. They can’t just give away your spot because you miss a couple classes. But they can’t make you go to classes either. College students are adults. It’s their responsibility to communicate their choices. The school policies don’t sound predatory. It’s just business. Would you have been happy if you couldn’t attend the first two classes but showed up to the 3rd lecture to find out someone else had been given your spot? I doubt it.
I don’t really understand what makes you think a commuter school is somehow less than a college where most students dorm. SUNY Stony Brook is a commuter school but it ranks up there with SUNY Albany. If you treat the staff at this college like they are “just” a commuter school and not as legitimate as your state flagship I don’t think it’s going to help your cause. I’d be careful not to speak poorly about them at work either.
You’re in this situation because you had to leave school to take care of ill parents who didn’t have the financial resources to get other help and you didn’t know you had to formally withdraw from the school. Go to the office of student services and ask if they can convert the F’s to W’s. If you contacted your professors or anyone else at the college about your situation then take copies of those emails. Take the death certificates of both your parents. Treat them like they are trying to help you.
You also need to go to the bursar’s office. Even if the F’s are changed to W’s you may still owe tuition for the 3 courses. They couldn’t fill the seats in those classes because you never withdrew, so they may charge you. Is this a public college? What state are you in? The cost of 3 courses at a state school 8 years ago probably isn’t a horrible sum. Find out how much it is and set up a repayment plan.
I’ve polled a few friends. So far I’ve collected proof Berkeley, Pepperdine, Stanford, Duke and two community colleges drop students automatically for non-attendance, as early as after missing class #1 and #2. Others include language that if the first [easy] assignment isn’t done you’ll be dropped.
This is a punitive money-grab. Get the money, who cares how many students we screw. After all, they’re mostly dealing with low-income struggling minority students, what are they going to do? I’m going to send a letter to the state AG and other agencies I think might be interested. I think this college has ruined a lot of vulnerable people’s lives.
I think you’re way overreacting at this point. You failed to read up on the policies (contract) that you entered into when you registered, and you then didn’t meet your obligations in regards to dropping out officially. No one was out to get you or any other student. Every school has clearly defined ways of handling such things for all enrolled students. If you continue with your angry stance and tactics to legally assault the school, you’ll lose the opportunity to possibly handle it quickly, quietly, and like an adult. You’re not taking responsibility for your own actions here. It would have taken ten minutes to officially withdraw.
I’m really not overreacting. If it weren’t for this they could have collected full-tuition for 40 credit hours and booked a graduate. As it stands they’ll get $0. Smart. Now I guess I’ll just spend a little more out of pocket to pursue my BA at my old state U via online and a couple of lectures I’ll commute to. Smart. I will go out of my way to avoid giving this place another cent.
Who exactly benefits keeping ghost students enrolled? It permanently harms the ghost student, it harms random students who’d like to add a section, it harms professors’ pass rate. It helps…
OP, sounds like your friends have been luckier than you. Unfortunately, you aren’t dealing with the colleges you mentioned. You may not think it’s fair, but you are stuck with the situation. It’s up to you to be proactive nd not not them, frankly. Your get more flies with sugar than vinegar.
My old state U had the same policy of dropping students (not W, totally dropped) for early non-attendance. It’s not about luck, I think it’s more about institutions being run by ethical administrators.