Academic Options for Students with Extenuating Circumstances

• An Incomplete grade is an option for students who are unable to finish a course due to circumstances beyond their control.
• To qualify for an incomplete, you must be passing the course, and the professor needs to agree to the Incomplete.
• Reach out to your professor directly before the Monday after Finals Week to request this. If they agree, it would be between you and the professor to agree on what work still needs to be done, as well as a timeline to complete it. The work for the Incomplete must be finished by the end of the following quarter, although the professor can set an earlier deadline. There is no official paperwork to request an Incomplete, although some professors or departments may ask you to submit the Incomplete form (PDF).
• For more information about Incomplete grades, refer to TritonLink.

• A petition to retroactively withdraw from a class would be an option for students who have extenuating circumstances that prevented them from dropping the class(es) by the deadline (Friday of Week 6) or that happened after the drop deadline. The result would be a “W” grade on your transcript.

• Petitions to retroactively withdraw must be submitted no later than the end of the following quarter. They are not meant to be used to “clean up” an academic record in the future. They are an exception to Academic Senate policy 501.B.3.: An undergraduate student may not drop a course after the end of the sixth week of instruction unless permitted to do so by paragraph (D)(1) or by petition for emergency reasons before the end of the tenth week of instruction.

• Petitions to retroactively withdraw from an individual course are unlikely to be approved unless a student can demonstrate why only one course was impacted by the emergency.

• Students cannot have taken the final exam or completed the course if they are petitioning for a retroactive withdrawal.

• If you choose to move forward with the petition process, you will need to complete an Undergraduate Student Petition (PDF). Choose “University Exception” and the request will be “retroactive drop with W grade”.

  • You must include documentation* of any extenuating circumstances that prevented you from withdrawing prior to the deadline or explains the emergency reason after the deadline.
  • You must provide a personal statement addressing what’s been happening.
  • If you are petitioning to withdraw from just one class (and not the whole quarter) you need to explain why the one class was impacted and not all.**
  • You will need signatures from the professor and academic department chair. Send the petition to the department advisors and they can help route the petition. If the instructor and department chair both approve the petition, it will then go to your College for review. If you submit the petition after the end of the quarter (e.g., after the end of Week 10), the Academic Senate Educational Policy Committee will also need to review the petition.

• These petitions are not guaranteed to be approved and can be denied at any step. If you have questions about the likelihood of your petition being approved, please consult your College advisors.

• Review the advising considerations of dropping an individual course. If you receive financial aid, speak with the Office of Financial Aid & Scholarships about possible impacts on your Satisfactory Academic Progress.

* Documentation varies by situation. It might include a medical visit summary, CAPS after-visit history, hospitalization dates, or a letter from your provider. It might be a death notice, obituary, funeral program, or letter from a family member’s medical provider or social worker. It might be a pay stub, employment termination, flight itinerary, or travel documents.

** The reviewers are going to wonder:

• How are the circumstances so severe that they impacted the class, but not severe enough to impact all classes?
• What objective details, timelines, and facts does the statement include?
• Why did the student not drop the course by the Week 6 deadline?

Follow all instructions above under the section for: Petition to Retroactively Withdraw from Individual Course(s) - with W grade.

In addition, to retroactively withdraw without W grades requires the date of the incident to clearly have occurred within the beginning of the quarter before the deadline to withdraw without a W grade. In Fall, Winter, and Spring quarters that is by Friday of Week 4. For Summer Sessions 1 and 2, that is by Friday of Week 2.

• A petition to retroactively withdraw from the full quarter may be an option for students who have extenuating circumstances that prevented them from withdrawing by the deadline (Friday of Week 6) or that happened after the drop deadline. The result would be a “W” grade in all courses. 

• Petitions to retroactively withdraw must be submitted no later than the end of the following quarter. They are not meant to be used to “clean up” an academic record in the future. They are an exception to Academic Senate policy 501.C.3. – An undergraduate student may not withdraw from the University after the end of the sixth week of instruction unless permitted to do so by petition for emergency reasons before the end of the tenth week of instruction.

• Students cannot have taken the final exams or completed the courses if they are petitioning for retroactive withdrawal.

• If you choose to move forward with the petition process, you will need to complete an Undergraduate Student Petition for every class. Choose “University Exception” and the request will be “retroactive drop with W grade”.

  • You must include documentation* of any extenuating circumstances that prevented you from withdrawing prior to the deadline or explains the emergency reason after the deadline.
  • You must provide a personal statement addressing what’s been happening. This does not need to be lengthy - just tell us why you can’t complete the quarter.
  • Send the petitions, statement, and documentation to your College advising team. If you submit the petition after the end of the quarter (e.g., after the end of Week 10), the Academic Senate Educational Policy Committee will also need to review the petition.

• These petitions are not guaranteed to be approved. If you have questions about the likelihood of your petitions being approved, please consult your College advisors.

• If you receive financial aid, speak with the Office of Financial Aid & Scholarships about possible impacts on your Satisfactory Academic Progress.

*Documentation varies by situation. It might include a medical visit summary, CAPS after-visit history, hospitalization dates, or a letter from your provider. It might be a death notice, obituary, funeral program, or letter from a family member’s medical provider or social worker. It might be a pay stub, employment termination, flight itinerary, or travel documents.

Follow all instructions above under the section for: Petition to Retroactively Withdraw from the Quarter (All Courses) - with W grades

In addition, to retroactively withdraw from a quarter without W grades requires the date of the incident to clearly have occurred within the beginning of the quarter before the deadline to withdraw without a W grade. In Fall, Winter, and Spring quarters that is by Friday of Week 4. For Summer Sessions 1 and 2, that is by Friday of Week 2.

• If you do not qualify for an Incomplete or a petition to retroactively withdraw, your final grade will be posted. If you fail the course, you can retake it.* For the first 16 units of D, F, or NP grade that a student earns and then repeats, the original grade is removed from the GPA calculation when they repeat the class. In other words, if you fail the class, the F grade would remain on your transcript but be removed from your GPA when you retake the class. See How to Repeat a Class for full details.

• If you are concerned about the impact of failing grades on your GPA and academic standing, please contact your College advisors to discuss your particular situation.

• Repeated courses may not be covered by financial aid. Please contact Financial Aid & Scholarships if you have any questions.

* To take a course for a third or more time, you need approval (not guaranteed) from your College Dean of Academic Advising.