Riddle me this. Classes began Aug. 22, and by Aug. 26, only four days later, UF students are expected to have decided whether they want to drop their course. If not, they have to pay for it anyway.
How is that enough time for people to decide whether they want to take the class if most teachers only discuss the syllabus during the first week? Students can hardly get a feel for the pace of the course or what they’ll be learning.
UF offers a 25-percent refund on courses if students drop by Sept. 16, but at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, classes for the Fåall 2016 semester begin Sept. 7, and students have until Nov. 23 to drop classes without any repercussion.
While their classes might be more difficult, there’s no reason we shouldn’t be given a few extra weeks to determine whether to drop a class. According to UF’s website, classes for Florida residents cost about $210.43 an hour, for which a three-credit course ends up being about $640. The same three-credit course costs, on average, about $3,000 for non-residents.
Having to throw away about $500 terrifies me, and I can’t imagine a non-residential student contemplating dropping a course after realizing it’s no good. Even with a 25-percent refund, a non-Florida resident could have used that money to pay the rent for their entire semester of school.
A 2003 study conducted by Southeastern Louisiana University, called “Why Do Students Withdraw From Courses,” showed students’ top-five reasons for course withdrawal included: The student was uninterested in the subject, the student didn’t like the course or the student didn’t like the professor.
I’d imagine it would take more than a week to garner whether you like a class or teacher. There have been many times when I regretted waiting another week after the drop/add period to realize I didn’t want to take a class. By then it was too late, and it didn’t seem worth it to drop because of all of the money I’d throw away.
So why can’t UF and other schools organize a different format that makes it less stressful for students to drop a class during the semester?
Although I do believe five weeks should give students enough time to decide whether to drop, a 25-percent return off the course just isn’t enough of a refund.
At the University of California Los Angeles, students don’t have to pay any fees if they drop before midnight their second week of classes. At the University of Southern California classes start Aug. 22, and students have until Sept. 9 to receive a refund, so why can’t we follow suit?
It will help our school more than hurt it to extend the drop time without a fee, because more students will be able to opt out of classes they don’t like or can’t manage. Students will also be more likely to succeed in their schoolwork without the added stress of knowing their money has gone to waste. Our school can afford to make this change, and it could impact students’ mental health significantly.
I know I’ve cried a few times over classes I didn’t drop in the first week but wished I could.
Even if UF were to consider other options like George Washington University’s, which gives students a 60-percent refund in their second week and a 40-percent refund in their third, students might decide to drop classes more often earlier in the semester.
We already have to pay enough money, and the looming threat of throwing it away can lead us to make decisions that aren’t the best for us. So please, UF, reconsider.
Nicole Wiesenthal is a UF journalism senior. Her column appears on Fridays.
