During a fall or spring semester, a student who decides to drop all classes and leave the university on or after the first day of classes must follow the steps for a complete withdrawal. This option applies only to the regular fall and spring semesters. A student may initiate the withdrawal with the dean of students in person, by phone, or by email, with the date of the initial contact counted as the date of withdrawal. A student may not initiate withdrawal after the Friday before final exams. To process a complete withdraw from the university, a student must complete the following steps:

1) Meet with the dean of student’s office to explain the reasons for the withdrawal.
2) Obtain a withdrawal form from the registrar’s office and complete it. The form must be signed by the student, registrar, dean of students, vice president for academic affairs, financial aid office, Perkins loan officer (if appropriate), and business office.
3) Complete a financial aid exit interview.
4) Turn in his or her student ID card.
5) Return all library books and receive clearance from library personnel.
6) Provide a forwarding address for mail.
7) If a residence hall student, completely check out of the residence hall, receive clearance from the residence hall supervisor, and return all keys.

If a student initiates a complete withdrawal by the end of the add-drop period (the fifth day of classes), there is no academic penalty and no courses will be shown on the student’s transcript for that semester. If a withdrawal is initiated between the end of the add-drop period and Friday of the twelfth week, transcripts will show a grade of W for withdrawal on the transcript; if the withdrawal is initiated between the Friday of the twelfth week and the Friday before finals, transcripts will show a grade of either W or F on the grade report depending on whether the student is passing or failing at the time of the withdrawal. A complete withdrawal after the add-drop period closes will affect a student’s academic standing; a student in good standing will move to academic warning, a student on academic warning will move to academic probation, and a student on academic probation will move to academic suspension. (See Satisfactory Academic Progress guidelines for details.)

If the student initiates withdrawal before the 25th day of classes, the student may receive a partial tuition refund, but if the withdrawal is initiated on or after the 26th day of classes, the student is not eligible for any refund of tuition (see the section ?Withdrawals and Refunds? in the Finances portion of the catalog for details on withdrawal and tuition).

A withdrawal becomes final only when a student has completed the withdrawal process. Students who simply absent themselves from class without providing appropriate notice of intent to may have failing grade(s) posted to their records. This is considered an unofficial withdrawal and student records will be marked the following semester as withdrawn from the institution.

If a student completes a semester or more at Ohio Valley University, but decides not to continue to enroll, he or she will be marked as withdrawn on the 60th day of the semester following the student’s last completed semester.