Grade Appeals

The University Ombudsman can assist you in academic appeals processes.

To begin a grade appeal, the Ombudsman recommends that you fill out:

1. Grade appeal form,
2. Financial aid appeal form, and
3. Academic status appeal if you have been placed on probation or suspension.

Learn more about the grade appeal guidelines.

If you feel you have received an unfair or capricious final grade in a course, you can appeal that grade if it meets one of the following criteria. You cannot use the procedure to question an instructor's professional judgment or the content of an exam. You can only appeal final grades.

Those criteria are:

• When the student contends that the professor has violated the professor’s own specified grading standards or has imposed criteria different from those used to evaluate the academic work of other students in the class.
• When the student has been charged by the professor with cheating, plagiarism, or collusion resulting in a reduced grade or a grade of “F” in the course and the student contends that the charges are untrue and the penalty therefore unjust.
• When the student has either been given the grade of “F” in a course or been given a grade lower than what the student earned through proper academic work because the professor accuses the student of being in violation of University Rules or Regulations, discipline for which should be administered by the Vice President for Student Affairs (or designee) and not by the instructor in any given course.
• When the instructor demands as a condition of passing a course any condition not germane to the subject matter of the course.
• In order to appeal a final grade under these guidelines a student must start the appeal process within twenty (20) school days of the end of the semester or summer session in which the grade was received. Initiation of the appeals procedure is accomplished by the student notifying the University Ombudsman in writing of the student’s intention to appeal a final grade and providing the Ombudsman with specific information concerning the appeal.
• If unsuccessful, the student then meets with the University Ombudsman who will guide the student through the remainder of the appeals process. Copies of the Guidelines for Appealing Unfair and/or Capricious Final Grades can be obtained from the Ombudsman or the Academic Vice President.

This information is provided in Section 18 of the Student Code of Conduct.