Students Experiencing Extenuating Circumstances

If you find that you are likely to earn, or have already earned, a 0.0 grade in one or more classes due to circumstances beyond your control, you might be eligible for a late drop, a late withdrawal (‘W’ grade), or a retake credit.

Five types of extenuating circumstances qualify.  We recognize that students face a variety of challenges in college; however, if your circumstance does not meet the guidelines outlined below, you should not submit a request.

Qualifying Extenuating Circumstances

1. Health: Student experiences lengthy illness, injury or hospitalization.
2. Caregiving: Student is caregiver for a loved one experiencing a lengthy illness, injury or hospitalization.
3. Mandatory work schedule change: Student’s employer implements a mandatory change in the student’s work schedule.
4. Bereavement: Student experiences the death of a loved one.
5. Military deployment: Student is deployed for military duty.

Documentation is required, and the college will consider several factors when rendering appeal decisions.  Course duration and format, number of classes missed, volume of work submitted and the timing of the extenuating circumstance within the semester will all be considered when the college reviews appeals. 

Student must provide documentation that supports their request and situation. Examples may include:

• Health and Caregiving: Letter from physician or hospital admission/discharge paperwork. These must include student name, admit dates and discharge dates. Sensitive medical information can be redacted before submission.
• Bereavement: Obituary, funeral mass card, or death certificate for loved one defined as: spouse, children, parents, brothers, sisters, parents-in-law, grandparents, grandchildren, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law or grandparents-in-law.
• Mandatory work schedule change: Letter from employer on company letterhead that indicates the student was required change their work schedule. This should include previous schedule, revised schedule and a date on which the revised schedule was affective. Appeals will not be considered for students who choose to take on additional hours, jobs or shifts. Appeals will not be considered for students who quit or lose their jobs.
• Military deployment: Deployment orders or emergency call up /activation paperwork from unit or commanding officer. The date the student is notified as well as the dates of deployment/activation should be included. Appeals will not be considered for students choosing to join the military during the semester. Students who are members of the Reserves or National Guard are expected to notify their instructors ahead of regular exercises/training obligations ahead of time. Only emergency call up/activation will be considered for appeals.

Students who earn a 1.0 grade or higher in a class do not qualify. Only grades of 0.0 will be addressed through this process. Students can also use this process if they experienced extenuating circumstances that resulted in an NS grade.

Every class has a published last day of class (see Academic Dates). You have 10 calendar days from that date to submit an extenuating circumstances request for that specific class. For example, if the last day of class for 15-week classes is December 19, then December 29 at midnight is deadline for submitting the request. Requests submitted after the deadline will not be considered.

Beginning with appeals filed for the Winter 2022 semester, students may only use this appeal process three times in their lifetime at Schoolcraft, regardless of the outcome of the appeal.

When completing this request, you must:

• Specify what type of resolution you hope to receive. Learn more about the types of resolutions below. If you receive financial aid, keep in mind that some resolutions may not be available to you. For example, students receiving Pell grants are not eligible for retake credits.
• Provide documentation. 
• If you are receiving a loan, grant, or scholarship, check with Financial Aid to make sure you understand what will happen to your aid if your request is approved. If you receive a late drop or withdrawal (“W”) grade, it may impact your ability to meet Satisfactory Academic Progress Standards or may result an adjustment of your aid award such that you may owe money back to the college.

Before completing your request via SCaware, it is important for you to understand what resolutions are available to students with extenuating circumstances.

This means we will treat your course(s) as if you had dropped them during the published refund period. In this type of resolution, there will be no grade on your transcript and the tuition and fee charges are no longer assessed to you. Depending on how the course was paid for you may receive a refund of tuition and fees previously paid.

This means we will treat your course(s) as if you had withdrawn from them during the published withdrawal period. In this type of resolution, there will be a “W” grade on your transcript and you remain responsible for the tuition and fee charges.

This means we will treat your course(s) as if you had dropped them during the published refund period. In this type of resolution, there will be no grade on your transcript and the tuition and fee charges are no longer assessed to you. Rather than returning any tuition and fees to you in the form of a refund, the college will retain the money in the form of a credit balance on your account, for up to one year.  You can re-use these funds on the course of your choosing within the year timeframe. This resolution is often helpful for students who know they are going to enroll in future courses at Schoolcraft College, but is not available to students on some forms of Financial Aid.