FAU students can now withdraw from a class as late as the 13th week of the semester thanks to a policy approval by faculty senate on Friday, Feb. 20.

The withdrawal date got pushed from Feb. 27 to Apr. 3, and students were notified via email after the faculty senate meeting took place.

“The current date is so early in the semester, many students have not had any initial assessments in some of their courses by that date,” said Dean of Undergraduate Studies Edward Pratt. “They don’t know how they are fairing in a class until [sometimes] weeks later.”

The reason for the urgency is to match up with the rest of the Florida public universities under the Board of Governors. A majority of those colleges have withdrawal dates as late as April.

During the meeting concerns were brought up about the ethics in higher education as well as the financial risks students might deal with.

“The decision to work hard in a class is taken away from the students, because students may opt out of a course,” said Markus Schmidmeier — mathematical sciences professor. “There is no longer a decision to work as hard as possible.”

When the UP asked if this policy was going to cost more money out of students’ tuition, Faculty Senate President Ronald Nyhan denied any increase.

“But it does have an impact on tuition,” Schmidmeier stated in response. “Students cannot work harder, they cannot save the course because they made the decision too late. So they have to pay for the course once more, right?”

“Again, it’s a win-win situation for undergraduates,” Pratt assured the council. “This is probably the best of all worlds for our undergraduate students [in] having a much later withdrawal date.”

The two opposing votes came from Schmidmeier and Robert Zoeller — an exercise science and health promotions professor. Student Body President Michael Cepeda, who attended the faculty senate meeting for the first time, supports the decision in pushing the withdrawal date at a later time.

“I think it is a benefit to students,” Cepeda said. “It gives us more time to focus on the class with a better ease of mind.”