Princeton eliminates $45 fee for dropping courses after add/drop period

Undergraduate students no longer have to pay the $45 fee to drop a course after the add/drop period ends.

The add/drop period allows students to adjust their course schedules until mid-September. After that, they can still drop a course until the ninth week of the term, previously with a $45 fee.

University Spokesperson Jennifer Morrill confirmed the change in a statement to The Daily Princetonian, explaining that the decision — made in collaboration with the Office of the Dean of the College — was motivated by the belief that “these transactional fees are rooted in outdated practice.”

“Many years ago, applying a fee to a registration change was considered a way to minimize late schedule adjustments — it was intended as a deterrent — and these changes were processed by hand, which required staffing resources,” Morrill wrote. “Students now register online and registration guidelines offer more nuance than they did a generation ago, providing more schedule adjustment flexibility.”

“Charging late drop transactional fees no longer effectively serves the purpose they were designed to address, so we have ended the practice of charging them altogether in course registration,” Morrill added.

The removal of this fee has been welcomed by many students, who see it as a much-needed change that alleviates one of the many challenges involved in dropping a course.

In an interview with the ‘Prince,’ Yechan Lee ’27 said, “There’s really no reason to desensitize against dropping. Sometimes courses are deceptive. They don’t get hard until way after until the add/drop ends.”

Shail Patel ’27 described how he considered dropping COS 226: Algorithms and Data Structures as his interest in the course declined.

“At first, you can’t really gauge your interest in the subject or course. But over the semester, you might see that this isn’t really a course you like very much, and you would rather drop it and put more effort into other courses that you’re taking that you have more interest in,” Patel told the ‘Prince.’

Minal Patel ’25, who had experienced the add/drop fee since her first year at Princeton, said she fully supports the change, believing it will make the process fairer for future students.

“I dropped PHY 103 [General Physics I] last year, but I don’t remember if they charged me or not because of financial aid. But I would think that’s more equitable,” she wrote to the ‘Prince.’

The final date to drop classes this semester is Friday, Nov. 8.