Student Advisement: All undergraduates at UB have access to academic advisement within their academic unit—Arts and Sciences students in the College of Arts and Sciences; Engineering students in the School of Engineering; Management students in the school of Management; Undecided students in the central office of Student Advisement and Services in Norton Hall; etc.Additional advisors work with Honors Students, EOP students, Athletes, and other special groups.All incoming students have had significant contact with their advisors over the course of the summer and should know the location of their advisement home.All Arts and Sciences students can rely on receiving solid advisement from the CAS offices in 275 Park Hall as well as from other departmental advisors in CAS.Faculty and teaching assistants are also welcome to consult with our staff regarding students in their departments and classes. 

Add/Drop Dates: Students can add and drop courses during the first two weeks of classes only (the deadline for adding and dropping is always at 11pm on the Friday of the second week).A dropped course does not appear on one’s transcript. Faculty need to be aware that students may show up in their class on the first day of the third week, having registered for it on the previous Friday, expecting to be allowed to enter the course. Absence policies and graded coursework requirements can still be applied from the first day of class. If faculty are talking with their students about the possibility of dropping a course, they should realize there might be financial repercussions—if a student drops below 12 credits, there will be a 30% tuition penalty and a 100% fees penalty for dropping a course after the end of the first week of classes. 

Resigning from a course:Students can resign from coursesfrom the Saturday after the second week of classes until the end of the eighth week (again, Friday at 11pm is the absolute deadline). First-semester freshmen and transfer students are given an extended resign period – until the end of the 11^th week of classes.An “R” will appear on the transcript by the course name. Faculty should understand that after the Friday of week 8, students cannot retroactively resign a course, even if a faculty member writes a letter of support.The University’s position is that students must be held responsible for managing their enrollment status.Faculty should also understand that, in most cases, resigning a course does NOT compromise a student’s full-time standing—Grades of R are recognized as credits in the evaluation of full-time status.Finally, it is a faculty member’s responsibility to provide students with some concrete evaluation of their progress in every course before the end of the 8^th week.If students can’t handle the material, they should be encouraged to resign in a timely manner.

Administrative withdrawal: Students who must withdraw from their classes after the end of the resign period should consult with their academic advisors for appropriate procedures, justification, and documentation to request an administrative withdrawal (grade of “W”). As per Faculty Senate-approved policy, administrative withdrawal petitions based upon extraordinary circumstances are only considered for all courses in a semester (not selected courses) and are only approvable for courses no older than one semester preceding the date of the petition. 

Leaves of Absence:Leaves are granted for a maximum of two semesters but may be extended for an additional year by written request.Forms are available from an academic advisor.A student must be in good academic standing (a GPA of 2.0 minimum), have no checkstops, and must not be registered for classes. A request for a leave of absence must be submitted to the CASSAS office by the end of the eighth week of a semester. 

Checkstops: Checkstops freeze a student’s record and prevent enrollment activity until the student has met the requirements for their removal (e.g. A=advisor, I=immunization, B=bursar, etc).If students are expressing concern or confusion about a checkstop, faculty can encourage them to consult with an academic advisor in 275 Park Hall. 

Incompletes: A grade of Incomplete may be given to students who have not completed all of the assigned work in a course, generally if they have a passing average, and if there exists a well-defined means by which the course requirements can be completed within 15 months.Students must not re-enroll in a course for which they have received a grade of Incomplete. Incompletes are given solely at the discretion of the instructor, and instructors have authority over all parameters of the grade and completion of work.Incompletes should not be given to mask failing work in a semester, nor should they be used to afford an individual student additional time to improve a grade when the student has completed all assigned work.A grade of Incomplete must be accompanied by a designated default grade.The default grade should indicate what the student’s final grade will be, should the student fail to do any further work on the course--it is NOT meant to indicate the student’s average grade at the time of departure from the course.

Repeat policy: A student may repeat a course only once for credit. When a course is repeated, the credits earned count only once for the purposes of satisfying degree requirements and for purposes of calculating the student’s GPA.When a course is repeated, the grade counted in the GPA is the grade earned the second time, even if it is lower than the grade earned the first time. A student may continue to repeat a course to satisfy a major requirement (only with a department’s approval) or a Gen Ed requirement, but the student will not receive credit for the course. 

Changes of Grade: Changes from one grade to another must be initiated by the instructor utilizing a Change of Grade Form, which is to be signed by the instructor and the department chair. Reasons for the change, aside from changes of INC and J grades, must be fully explained and justified. The Provost’s Office will not countenance changes of original grades of INC once the INC has defaulted after 15 months.