Drops & Withdrawals

If you’re unable to complete your UW course for any reason, you must withdraw in writing to Registration Services by the deadlines below. You must also take whatever necessary steps at your school to drop the course. There are no refunds for withdrawing from a course unless you are no longer registered as a student at your high school.

For exceptions to these deadlines due to hardship such as illness or school closures, see the Former Quarter Drop section. 

How to Withdraw From a Course

To officially withdraw from a course, you must email c2reg@uw.edu with your full name, UW Student ID number, course name, six-digit registration number and a statement indicating you wish to withdraw from the course. If you have withdrawn from your high school, provide documentation from your teacher or school office with your request to withdraw from the UW course. You can also mail this request to:

Continuum College
Registration Services
Box 45010
Seattle, WA 98145-0010

Only students can make a withdrawal request; requests made by parents/guardians or instructors are not accepted.

Once a withdrawal request is processed, you’ll receive a transaction summary in the mail. A "W" will follow the course title on your UW transcript. If you use your “annual drop,” the "W" will also be followed by the equivalent week of the quarter in which you dropped the class. You will not receive a grade for the course.

Deadlines

The deadline for your withdrawal request is the last day of the course.

The drop deadline applies only if you are taking multiple courses that registered in the same term and you want to drop one while remaining enrolled in the others. This is referred to as your “annual drop.” You can only drop one course during an academic year.

If you’re enrolled in a single course or several, and you decide you don’t want to receive UW credit for any of them, you can withdraw from them up until the last day of the course. Unlike dropping a course, there are no limits on withdrawing from courses during an academic year.

If you do not withdraw from a class by the appropriate deadline, your teacher will still have to submit a final UW grade for you, and that grade may be a failing grade.

Former Quarter Drop

The University of Washington understands that, as a student, you may face a variety of challenges and obstacles while taking a UW course. The Former Quarter Drop (FQD) process is designed to help you address the impact these challenges and obstacles may have had on your ability to achieve academic success. The FQD process enables you to request to drop a UW course or courses that have already ended. Please review the policy, eligibility requirements and petition process on the Office of the University Registrar website. 

This process requires a UW NetID; see Creating a UW Net ID if you need help with creating or retrieving your UW NetID. On the FDQ form, select the campus as “Continuum College,” select the quarter in which the UW course started (or if not one of the options, select any quarter), and provide the name of your high school and year you took the UW course(s) in the comment box where you provide information on the reason for your request.