Instructor-Initiated Withdrawal FAQs
The Department of Education requires the college to return all of Title IV funds that were disbursed to a student who does not begin attendance at that institution. The Secretary considers that a student has not begun attendance if the institution is unable to document the student’s attendance at any class during the payment period or period of enrollment.
The Department of Education does not specifically require attendance to be taken in the traditional sense of calling out names in class from a roster. Rather, schools are required to have some type of mechanism to know whether or not the student began attending classes.
It is recommended to have some kind of required activity during this period even if no academic assignments are due.
The Department of Education states that a school must demonstrate that a student participated in class or was otherwise engaged in an academically related activity, such as by contributing to an online discussion or initiating contact with a faculty member to ask a course-related question (Volume 5, Chapter 2, page 5-63, November 2018).
Examples of acceptable evidence of academic attendance and attendance at an academically-related activity in a distance education program include:
- Student submission of an academic assignment
- Student submission of an exam
- Documented student participation in an interactive tutorial or computer-assisted instruction
- A posting by the student showing the student’s participation in an online study group that is assigned by the institution
- A posting by the student in a discussion forum showing the student’s participation in an online discussion about academic matters
- An e-mail from the student or other documentation showing that the student initiated contact with a faculty member to ask a question about the academic subject studied in the course
- A non-graded acknowledgment of the syllabus or a plagiarism statement from each student or a group discussion requiring students to introduce themselves in the first ten days.
Logging into Canvas without performing one of the actions above does not constitute attendance
An instructor must initiate an administrative withdraw for a non-attending student
at any point during the first ten instructional days of the quarter (eight days in summer) if the student does not contact the instructor to indicate
their intention to remain enrolled. This date is known as the term census date, and
is also the last day to drop without a W grade. This date is always posted on the
LCC Academic Calendar.
Instructor-Initiated Withdrawal must be submitted no later than the tenth academic
calendar day of the quarter.
Use the online form to submit Instructor-Initiated Withdrawal requests. Requests must be submitted using the online form; email will not be accepted.
The Department of Education specifies that an institution must return funds for which it is responsible as soon as possible but not later than 30 days after the date the institution becomes aware that the student will not or has not begun attendance.
Processing these reports require multiple departments interacting with the Department of Education to recalculate and adjust aid. The instructor deadline ensures enough to complete the process during the period required by financial aid regulations, and so the student can be dropped prior to the last day to withdraw without a W grade.
We no longer have the option to report a grade for non-attendance at the end of the quarter. All students who do not begin attending in the first ten days are to be reported via the Instructor-Initiated Withdrawal procedure.
If you missed the ten-day deadline, you should still report to the Registration Office that the student never began attending by submitting the IIW form. The student will be removed from your class roster.
If the grade rosters have been generated for the class before the student is dropped, the student will appear on your grade roster. Leave the grade field blank for that student.
The Department of Education still requires the financial aid office to calculate a repayment and return funds, even if we exceed the required time frame for reporting.
If the student attends a class or takes action to indicate they intend to be enrolled in the class, they are not eligible for the Instructor-Initiated Withdrawal. Grade the student at the end of the quarter based on their performance in the course.
Students should:
- Attend scheduled class sessions.
- Non-attending students should contact their instructor in person, by phone, or by email and notify them of their intention to remain enrolled or they will be administratively withdrawn by the instructor during the first ten instructional days of the quarter.
- Students who are withdrawn through the Instructor-Initiated Withdrawal process and who wish to be reinstated in class must complete normal procedures for re-enrollment, including securing the instructor’s written permission to re-enroll.
- Initiate an Instructor-Initiated Withdrawal by completing online form located in Navigate.
- Submit the online form no later than the tenth academic calendar day of the quarter.
The Registration Office will:
- Process the Instructor-Initiated Withdrawal form.
- Notify the student that they have been dropped from the class because they did not participate.
- Inform the Financial Aid Office of the Instructor-Initiated Withdrawal.
Please contact the Registration Office at (360) 442-2370 or email registration@lowercolumbia.edu.