Tuition Adjustment Policy (Dropping Classes After the Start Date)

Earlier, we discussed the Pre-Registration Activity Guide that you will complete every semester. One section of the Activity Guide is called the Financial Responsibility Agreement (FRA). This agreement outlines University billing policies, due dates, and holds, among other things, and must be agreed to before enrolling in your courses for that semester.  

Changing your overall number of credits after your semester begins can also have further financial implications. In addition to the tuition adjustment we looked at earlier, some other things to consider are the following:

• Your student status could change. There are several enrollment statuses that you can be in at Penn State. Dropping courses can cause your enrollment status to change. You can refer to Table 1.1 for information on what enrollment statuses are associated with the number of credits you take during a semester. 

Enrolled Credits	Enrollment Status
12+	Full-time
9–11.5	Three-quarter time
6–8.5	Half-time
Less than 6	Less than half-time

Table 1.1 Enrolled credits and enrollment status

• A change in status could affect your financial aid. Your student status is one of the criteria that many types of financial aid is dependent on. If your status changes, you may find that you're no longer eligible for some of the aid that you were awarded and that you're required to return it to the granting institution.

It's always best to have as much information as possible when making a decision like dropping a course. You can find more information on this topic on the Dropping a Course page Links to an external site., or you can reach out to World Campus staff at any time:

• If you're using financial aid, you can contact the Penn State World Campus Financial Aid Office at 814-867-4244 or financialaid@outreach.psu.edu.
• For billing questions not related to financial aid, you can contact the Penn State World Campus Bursar Office at 814-863-8300 or bfo@outreach.psu.edu.