Students at West Virginia University who have not paid their tuition and fees by the start of the fall semester on Aug. 17 won't be automatically dropped from their classes, unlike in prior semesters.
WVU officials said the change was prompted by concerns about students who might have been victims of June's floods.
However, they said the change will be permanent.
"We are not automatically dropping students from their courses if they have not paid their bill in full," said Sandra Oerly-Bennett, the school's executive director of financial aid and scholarships. "We are taking the approach that, if a student has registered for courses, they are incurring a financial responsibility and they need to take responsibility and drop their courses if they don't plan to attend."
Whether someone actually attends a class or not doesn't matter - WVU will assume that if someone is registered for a class, they're there until they withdraw.
Not personally withdrawing could put students on the hook for part or all of their tuition bill, and Oerly-Bennett said the school will make attempts to collect the money students owe the school.
The last day to withdraw from classes and get a full refund is Aug. 23, a week after the start of the semester. To withdraw from classes before that day, students should log onto portal.wvu.edu and drop the classes through STAR. After that day, students who drop a class will receive a 'W' on their record, to indicate they have withdrawn from the class.
The last day to drop a normal 16-week class with a "W," instead of a traditional letter grade, is Oct. 26. To drop a normal class after that day, students must make a request through the Registrar's Office.
Starting on the second week of a normal 16-week class, students may get only 90 percent of their money refunded for withdrawing. As the weeks go on, the refund a student may get for dropping out decreases quickly. Starting on the fifth week of a normal class, a student may get only half of their money back.
After the eighth week, the student won't get any refund.
"There's been numerous communications from when students started registering for classes back in March and April, that as they register, they're incurring a financial responsibility," Oerly-Bennett said.
When a student has an outstanding balance on their account, WVU will put a hold on the student's account that prevents them from registering for classes and viewing grades and transcripts.
After trying to contact the student multiple times about the unpaid balance, the school will turn the bill over to a collection agency.
Even if a student withdraws halfway through the semester because of a medical emergency, that student still will be responsible for the entire semester's tuition and fees.
"There is an appeal process, should the student feel an exception should be granted," Oerly-Bennett said.
She also pointed to a new partnership this year that might help students in that situation. Students may enroll in a tuition-refund insurance program through a company called GradGuard.
For a one-time payment, students and their families may enroll in the insurance program that, depending on how much the family pays, can refund upward of $20,000 in tuition, fees and the cost of room and board for an academic year.
Unless a student is enrolled in a tuition payment plan (which allows the students to make payments on their balance over the course of the semester), the deadline to pay the entire bill for the fall semester was July 27.
In addition to not dropping students from their courses, WVU did not charge students the 1.5 percent late fee normally assessed to students when their balance exceeds $200 if they didn't pay their bill by the original due date.
The school will start charging the monthly late fee on Sept. 2.
"We don't know which students were impacted by the flood," Oerly-Bennett said. "We're giving all students the benefit of the doubt."
Reach Jake Jarvis at jake.jarvis@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-7939, Facebook.com /newsroomjake or follow @NewsroomJake on Twitter.