For students enlisted in the armed forces, facing deployment not only affects their personal lives but also puts a halt on receiving a degree.
Robert Doolos, University registrar, said students called to active duty while classes are in session have different options for resolving unfinished credits.
Doolos said it depends on the timing of deployment and a student’s professor or college to decide how to handle an unexpected situation.
“Normally, a student can’t resign with all Ws in the last week of classes, but these students can,” Doolos said. “There are guidelines from the Board of Regents, but students may get refunds, Ws, incompletes, early finals or get graded on work they’ve already submitted.”
He said the University Registrar’s Office has only 16 students recorded as leaving in the middle of a semester, but the count may be off because some students may not have returned after summer or Christmas breaks.
“Some students found out they were being deployed over the break and just didn’t come back,” Doolos said.
The Registrar’s Office recently has set up a link on its Web site, titled “Military Leave,” for information on dates, actions and results of leaving during classes, Doolos said.
“We kept getting calls about policies and what we do, but we wanted something easy for everyone to get to,” Doolos said.
The site displays a chart of drop dates and actions the University will take to accommodate the students.
“We’re going to help these students, and we’ll help them through the process because we know they don’t have a lot of time before they’re mobilized,” Doolos said.
One option, according to the Web site, is a 100 percent refund, which includes “tuition and fees that have been paid, exclusive of student insurance fees and other non-refundable fees.”
Doolos said the Registrar’s Office keeps these students in a database for future reference to help them get back to where they left off.
“We maintain who they are and where and when they left,” Doolos said. “They’re not charged for reapplication, and we help them get their classes when they come back.”
Kim McDonald, associate director of Student Aid, said students who have to leave the University for active duty can get exceptions for paying loans. She said their leave date is taken into consideration, and the students are only responsible for loans while they are enrolled in classes.
Christine Day, associate director of Student Aid, said as far as scholarships go, the money students received for a full session of classes will be refunded back to the state department after their date of resignation.
Day said students can file a “Request for Exception to the Continuous and Full-Time Enrollment Requirement” with FAFSA if they have to leave before completing a semester. The request will prevent them from losing TOPS if they do not receive the minimum 24 hours required to get the state scholarship.