- Change your schedule before the drop deadline. The drop deadline for Spring semester courses is Monday, February 1, 2016. If you withdraw from classes after the drop deadline and your withdrawal takes you below nine hours, you will be responsible for paying for the tuition that would have been covered by your tuition scholarship. For example, if you were registered for twelve hours and you drop to nine, you’ll be ok. But if you were registered for nine hours and you drop to six after the deadline, you will be responsible for paying for three hours of tuition. While this rule is ridiculous, it is one the university has had in place for many years, and previous attempts at grieving it have been unsuccessful.
- Consider registering for fewer hours. The amount of fees you pay is proportional to the amount of hours for which you are registered. So if you are post-comps and you don’t have to take a full load of classes, consider auditing a class for one or two hours, rather than taking it for three. Additionally, some fees disappear if you register for four hours or less!
- Do not audit or register for zero credit hours courses. If you audit a course for zero credit hours or enroll for zero credit hours of research, you will be charged tuition, but the tuition scholarship may not apply.
- File a short hours form if you’re taking less than nine hours. This form states that you are a full time student even if you are not registered for full hours, and being registered as full time reduces the amount you pay in federal taxes and potentially defers some loan payments. Your department’s administrative assistant can help you with this.