University can be tough, especially when you aren’t sure what you want to get out of it yet. Ideally, your university experience should be enjoyable, and that sometimes means you have to drop a class or two.

Though the act of dropping classes gets a bad reputation, the reality is that sometimes it is necessary for your mental health or for your success in university. Although the deadline for a full tuition refund has now passed, the withdrawal deadline for this semester is not until Nov. 15. That means you’ve got loads of time to exit before a dropped class means an academic penalty.

This year, for single-term classes, if you withdraw before Sept. 26, you will be able to get back 75 per cent of your tuition in monetary credit toward further classes — between Sept. 26 and Oct. 3 you will get 50 per cent back.

For classes that are multi-term, Oct. 3 is the last day to withdraw and receive a tuition credit of 75 per cent. Oct. 18 is the last day to withdraw and receive a tuition credit of 50 per cent.

I have definitely withdrawn from a class at 50 per cent tuition credit, because sometimes you just have to cut your losses. If your sanity depends on it, it will be worth it. It is better to have a W — or withdrawal — on your transcript and 50 per cent of your tuition back than a failing mark and none of your money.

It was my very first semester of university, and I remember staying up all night in a panic about an early assignment that I didn’t understand how to do. It was a huge class with an unapproachable professor, and I was way out of my league. I dropped that class and got 50 per cent back, and that allowed me to focus on doing better in my remaining classes.

There is no doubt that if I had stayed in that class, I would have failed and probably done much worse in all my other classes, too. Believe me, failing marks will come back to bite you when you decide you want to go back to get your master’s and have to re-take all those heart-breaking classes again.

If you feel like you need to drop a class, go to the registration tab in PAWS, and it will have all the information you need. You can also make an appointment to talk to an academic advisor about any questions you have regarding your schedule. They are super helpful, and you will feel way better about your time at university after speaking to one.

Sure, nobody wants to drop classes because of the perception that doing so is giving up, but the truth is, sometimes you just won’t benefit from sticking it out — especially, if this is your first year of university, and you don’t know which direction you want to take yet.

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Lyndsay Afseth / Staff Writer

Graphic: Jina Bae