In comparison to past years, the number of students withdrawing from one or more classes was on par with years past. This semester, 7,883 undergraduate students dropped one or more class.

Nov. 18 was the last opportunity for students to withdraw from a class. In the fall 2010 semester, 7,634 undergraduate students dropped a class compared to 7,318 undergraduates in fall 2009, said Don Saleh, vice president for enrollment management at Syracuse University.

Although there was a slight increase in the number of students withdrawing from classes this semester, the class sizes have increased in recent years, with this year’s sophomore and freshman classes being larger than most, Saleh said.

In fall 2009, there were 3,526 freshmen, according to the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment. But in fall 2010, there were 3,746 freshmen, and there were 3,750 freshmen this fall.

This year, 1,751 freshmen dropped a class, so about 22 percent of all withdrawals from classes this semester were those of freshmen. This number appears to be fairly constant, as in the fall of 2010, about 23 percent of all classes dropped were dropped by freshmen.

Rachel Martinez, a freshman broadcast journalism and information management technology major, dropped LAT 101: ‘Latin I’ about a month into the course, she said in an email.

‘I dropped the class because having 21 credits was very overwhelming, and I knew that if I kept going at the intensity that I was going at, I would not do well,’ Martinez said. ‘Since Latin is a 4-credit course, once I dropped it I was at 17 credits, which I found gave me much more free time in order to study and get more involved in school.’

Saleh also said the numbers of students taking a leave of absence or withdrawing from the university remained consistent as well. This data is collected throughout the calendar year, so this year’s data is not yet complete. However, Saleh said he felt that this year would follow the pattern of recent years, perhaps with a slightly smaller number of students leaving the university.

So far, 671 students have left the university this year, Saleh said. But because fall grades have not yet come out, this number is subject to change. In the 2010 calendar year, 775 students left the university. In 2009, 758 students did not return to the university, he said.

Saleh said the number of students returning for the fall of their sophomore year is increasing. This fall, 92 percent of the sophomore class returned. In 2010, 91.5 percent of rising sophomores returned for the fall semester compared to 91 percent in 2009, he said.

Typically, between 8 and 9 percent of freshmen do not return for their sophomore year, Saleh said.

‘There is a trend, at least for three years, that a slightly higher percentage of our freshmen are returning,’ Saleh said.

Saleh said there are a number of reasons students choose not to return to the university, ranging from poor grades, failure to settle in to the university, medical or personal reasons and financial reasons.

‘Students leave for financial reasons,’ he said, ‘and certainly if there’s a financial difficulty, we fully expect that we’re going to be able to help most of the students, a very high percentage of them, resolve their problem.’

cffabris@syr.edu 

Published on December 7, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Casey: cffabris@syr.edu | @caseyfabris