College students must 'stay the course' or pay

Beginning this fall, new undergraduate students will see a cap on the number of courses they may drop. The 80th Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 1231, which will affect any student enrolled as a first-time freshman at Lamar University and all other Texas universities and colleges.

The coordinating board defines a "dropped course" as a course an undergraduate student at an institution of higher education has enrolled in for credit but did not complete. The new rules prohibit an institution of higher education from allowing a student to drop more than six courses during their undergraduate program, including any courses a transfer student has dropped at another university.

A student will be only allowed to drop more than six courses if he or she can show "good cause."

The amount of money a student is refunded after dropping a course depends on the number of days they attended a course before dropping it.