Many UMBC students pad their schedule by signing up for a few extra courses so they can later drop the ones they find less desirable. This practice might soon become a bygone luxury.

During the Spring 2009 semester, the Office of the Registrar proposed moving the drop date without a "W" withdrawal from the 20th day to the tenth day of the semester, synchronizing it with the add and drop date for classes. The "W" is a mark that remains on a student's transcript and can be seen with every other grade, but has the stipulation that the student did not complete the course that they started. Potential employers and graduate schools may view this negitvely as a sign that a student does not finish what he or she has started.

The administration reasoned that this would allow for managerial duties to become more efficient and create a simpler schedule with less dates for students to remember, explained Assistant Provost for Enrollment Management Yvette Mozie-Ross.

The SGA met with Mozie-Ross, Interim Vice Provost for Graduate Education Dr. Rutledge and Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education Dr. Diane Lee regarding the drop date in April 2009 to discuss the pros and cons of moving the drop date earlier in the semester. According to the minutes produced by this meeting, Dr. Lee, in support of an earlier drop date, explained that UMBC has a later drop date than most universities.

During the meeting, the positive effects cited with regards to moving the drop date back included synchronizing the dates of undergraduates and graduate students, ensuring that students who were not intending to stay in a course drop it earlier so others may join, simplifying registration dates, policies and financial aid reviews, minimizing aid adjustment after the "freeze" date, and allowing for more accurate assessment of course demand and availability. Students who drop classes they are not going to continue to be enrolled in will be able to focus more time and effort on their other courses, added Mozie-Ross.

Another benefit of moving up the drop date without a "W" is knowing how many credits each student has. This is important because of state funding which relies on FTE (Full-Time Equivalency). The State does not consider a student full-time unless they take 15 credits. Dr. Rutledge explained that some students aren't taking the full course load because they could not get into the classes, and therefore it undercuts funding from the state.

Negative aspects regarding the proposal were also discussed. If the date is pushed forward it will likely lessen the time students have to asses the course and its work load. Students may also feel obligated to add more courses that they are interested in taking and expect to drop one of those courses because there is less time to drop and then add a new class if one becomes a problem. This would effectively make it more difficult for other students to receive those seats in a course.

At the meeting with the SGA, Senate members proposed extending the add date. Administrators explained that doing so would not benefit students or professors because adding a class late results in a student rushing to catch up on missed work, and does not allow any time for the student to guage the work load of the Professor.

SGA Vice President Jennifer Kent and SGA Senator Amber Spry stated in the meeting that they could not see the student body being for this change and were not sure that they could support the proposal. Spry explained that students may end up having to choose between a failing grade and a "W" if there is less time to drop, and, as a result, student grades could possibly see a decline. Kent also added "moving [the drop date without a "W"] two weeks isn't going to change the situation regarding [students who are on the wait list]. However, it would harm students who sign up for class and intend to finish it but can't. Most students who enter the class to drop it will do so on the first day."

Another SGA Senator, Josh Michael, also voiced his concern at the meeting in April, "[if] four weeks is out of the norm, why is that a bad thing? UMBC has a lot of things out of the norm; I think that's why people come here. You can't know after two weeks whether not you can handle it."

UMBC currently has the drop date listed as September 29th, the 20th day of the term, and they have not made a decision on whether or not to move up the drop date without a "W." Nevertheless, UMBC students seem vehemently against it. There are over 900 members of a Facebook Group entitled "Against Changing the Drop Date" started by Kent and Joe Stanley.