The State of California made rules that Community College students can’t repeat classes they pass successfully, except for a few very limited reasons.
The main way to be able to repeat a class is: (from Limits on Repeating Classes )
“You can re-take a course after you withdraw with a W grade or get a substandard grade such as D, F, NP or NC. But you may not enroll in the same course more than three times.”
Many of my swim students already have their college degrees, and are only at De Anza to learn to swim/swim better, so they say they do not care what their grade point average at De Anza is. Some have told me that they will aim for an “F” grade so they can take, for example, novice swimming, enough times to get over any fear they have of the water, and/or get swimming skill developed enough to be able to participate in a beginning swim class in water deeper than they are tall. (Most De Anza College beginning swim classes are held in deep water.)
I remind them that if the company they work for implodes, they might really wish they did not have any “F”s as it could affect their ability to get into classes they might want to take to re-train for a new job.
Again, ways to repeat are described at:
https://www.deanza.edu/apply-and-register/register/repeat_limits.html
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How many “W” grades would be too many?
From the De Anza Counseling Probation webpage:
“What is academic or progress probation?
Students are placed on academic or progress probation when they do not meet minimum standards for:
Academic performance, as measured by their cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA) of all courses taken at De Anza.
Progress in completing courses without an excessive number of Withdrawal (W), Incomplete (I), or No Pass (NP) grades.
Academic and Progress Probation is applied after a student has attempted at least 18 quarter units. . .
. . . You will be placed on Progress Probation if your course grades are W (Withdrawn), I (Incomplete) or NP (No Pass) for half or more of the credit units you have attempted. This means you will have completed less than 51% of the units for all courses in which you have enrolled.”
What I quoted above could change and there are many more things you should read at the official college webpages, starting at:
https://www.deanza.edu/counseling/probation-retention/
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How many withdrawal grades are too many could also depend on which college you are trying to get into next. M.I.T. might have different standards than a California State University.
If you are concerned about too many ‘W’s you should get an appointment with a De Anza college counselor to talk about it well before the last day to drop with a W. (Drop deadlines are enforced, see https://www.deanza.edu/calendar/ .)
De Anza college Counseling offices are upstairs in the Registration and Student Services building.
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Before the state rule about classes not being repeatable, I had some adult-nonswimmer students who took the novice class four times, then moved on to beginning. If you think that it is not fair that people can’t repeat (especially adults coming in to a swim class who have never been in a pool before and can’t be expected to develop enough swimming skill in one term to go on to the second level of swim class) you can contact your California legislators and ask for a change.
Go to
http://findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov/
“Enter your California address and click the locate button to find your State Senate and Assembly representatives.”