Refund Policy

Partial Withdrawal 

This pertains to dropping some, but not all, courses for a semester.

1. Reduction in the First Year.  Because the first-year curriculum must be completed before the student may take upper-division courses, fulltime students are not permitted to reduce the course load in the first year by dropping courses except with the permission of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. By faculty resolution, no student shall be allowed to drop the required first-year course in Legal Reasoning, Research, and Writing.

2. Dropping Courses After the First Year:  During First Week of Class. During the first week of the semester, upper-level students may dropany course without having a W (“withdrew”) placed on their transcripts. (See the College of Law Academic Calendar for the specific date eachsemester.) If the dropped course brings a student’s course load below nine hours, the student may be eligible for a reduction in tuition and fees.

3. Courses Dropped Before the "Last Day to Drop" Deadline. Until the "last day to drop a course" on the law school's academic calendar,students are free to drop most courses by simply logging into STAR and dropping. The exceptions to this policy are clinical courses and Practical Legal Writing II. Slots in such courses are limited, and the student who drops them after the first week has wasted an opportunity sought by others. Students may drop these courses only with the permission of the instructor and the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, and such permission shall be given only for very strong reasons. The grade for a course dropped during this period shall be a "W." Please note that under University Policy, students who drop some but not all of their courses during thisperiod receive no refund of tuition and fees.

4. Courses Dropped after the University Deadline. After the University’s last date for withdrawal from a course (see the Academic Calendar),no student may withdraw from a course for any reason. Students who do not complete course requirements will receive an F for the course.Specifically, students denied permission to sit for a final because of excessive absences will receive an F if the last date for withdrawal has passed.  This is a university rule, and no exceptions can be made.

In-semester Withdrawal from All Classes

1. Withdrawal during First Twelve Weeks. During the first twelve weeks of any semester, a student may withdraw totally from the West Virginia University College of Law by obtaining permission from the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, and any student withdrawing from the West Virginia University College of Law during this period receives a grade of “W” in all courses dropped pursuant to this withdrawal. Students who withdraw completely within the first six weeks of class may be eligible for a partial refund of tuition and fees according to the University Refund Schedule. 

2. Withdrawal after First Twelve Weeks.  After the first twelve weeks of a semester, a student may be permitted to withdraw totally from the West Virginia University College of Law only with the permission of the Academic Standards Committee. The Committee shall grant permission upon a showing by the student that continuation in school will create a severe hardship on the student because of some substantial physical, emotional, or family problem. If permission is granted, the student receives a grade of “W” in all courses dropped; if permission is denied, then the student remains responsible for his or her performance in all courses and will be graded accordingly. The last day to withdraw from all classes is the final day of class, as marked on the College of Law Academic Calendar.      

After the end of a semester and prior to the start of the next semester, a student may withdraw from the West Virginia University College of Law. In all such cases, the West Virginia University College of Law shall advise the student of its requirement that studies must be completed within seven years from the date on which the studies began.

Resumption of Studies

1. First Semester, First Year.  A student who withdraws from the West Virginia University College of Law before completing the first semester of the first year must, except as herein provided, be readmitted by making application for an initial admission to the West Virginia University College of Law. A student who withdraws during the first semester may petition the Dean at the time of such withdrawal for permission to be readmitted at the next regular fall semester of the West Virginia University College of Law.  If the Dean determines that such withdrawal is for causes beyond the control of the student, the Dean will verify this fact in writing at the time of withdrawal and grant such permission. Permission to be readmitted to the West Virginia University College of Law applies only for admission for the beginning of the next academic year. An adverse decision by the Dean on granting this privilege may be appealed to the Faculty.

2. Other Students. Any student who withdraws voluntarily after the first semester of study and wishes to resume his or her studies must petition the Academic Standards Committee to be readmitted to the West Virginia University College of Law. The Committee may readmit the petitioning student subject to conditions of the Committee's choosing, or it may deny the petition for readmission, thus leaving the petitioner with the option of seeking admission to the College of Law through the regular admissions process. (Students who withdraw from law school and then successfully reapply through the regular admissions process start their legal educations "from scratch" alongside other members of their entering class; i.e., they begin with no credit hours and no law school GPA.  Students who are readmitted through petition to the Academic Standards Committee  retain credit hours and grades earned prior to their voluntary withdrawal from the College of Law. In deciding whether to grant a petition for readmission, the Committee considers the length of the interruption of studies, the causes for the interruption of studies, the intervening activities of the student and how they relate to the intellectual activities of a law student, changes in curriculum and the teaching program of the West Virginia University College of Law, and any other factors deemed relevant. A readmitted student may be required to repeat, without credit, work previously done, or may be required to audit certain courses. Any student who is readmitted may have the student's overall academic program adjusted to meet the requirements at the time of readmission. Resumption of studies is permitted only at the beginning of a semester.  A first-year student whose last complete semester was a fall semester is normally permitted to return only at the beginning of a spring semester.