I have to second this observation. I had a very close friend who dropped out of a class on the last possible day to do so (I think a little more than halfway through the semester). This was a CS class for which he had been assigned to a team for the entire semester. He was terribly, terribly depressed. He sent the group members the work he’d done for a project that was due soon and dropped the class. I’m not sure when or even if he actually told them (though they must have figured it out pretty quickly), because he was so terrified of what they were going to say, how mad they’d be, etc. He knew he was putting them in a tough spot, but it was going to kill his GPA and possibly him to try to tough it out. Unfortunately people have to look out for their own grades and psychological health, sometimes at the possible expense of others. I’m not saying I was totally pleased with his behavior at the time, but having seen this sort of thing happen from the POV of the deserter, all I can say is that I feel sympathy for the people on both ends of the deal.