Enrollment Policy Appeals Board
The Enrollment Policy Appeals Board adjudicates petitions for registration changes for the current term or immediately preceding terms. It is recommended that students work with their instructors prior to completing this form as they may have alternatives for completing coursework.
To request a change, you must explain the extenuating circumstances which prevented you from meeting the established registration deadlines. Procedures for completing petitions to change one’s registration information are listed below.
Appeals must be filed within 60 days of the end of the term being appealed. No appeals filed outside this time limit will be considered unless documentation includes additional or continued extenuating circumstances which prevented the student from meeting this deadline. Incomplete appeals will not be accepted.
Please note, this is not the official withdrawal form. This form is used to appeal one of the following situations below. If you are wishing to only withdraw, please use this form instead.
Please read and follow the instructions carefully.
Students may appeal for the following:
- Adding courses after the beginning of finals week or in previous terms (see “Appeals to add courses” section below.)
- Withdraw courses with or without tuition refunds.
- Change course options (grade mode and credit load.)
- Grade Grievance appeals.
- Parking appeals.
- Financial Aid (SAP) appeals.
- Housing appeals contact housing@sou.edu .
*Due to the current COVID-19 situation:
*All completed appeals must be sent via email to academicappeals@sou.edu .
*When completing your appeal, you may have instructors send their verification of last date of attendance or permission to add courses or change course options to academicappeals@sou.edu .
Extenuating Circumstances
The Enrollment Policy Appeals Board will approve only appeals demonstrating exceptional extenuating circumstances.
Extenuating circumstances include:
- Medical emergencies that are debilitating and beyond a student’s control – Documentation required; Medical documentation from a licensed medical provider showing inability to complete or engage in coursework.
- Death in the student’s immediate family (parent, sibling, grandparent, or child) – Documentation required; Mass program, obituary, or other such documentation.
- Errors made by SOU – Documentation required; Communication with the entity which caused the error.
- Natural disaster or other unforeseen emergency circumstances.
Routine circumstances which may lead to an appeal being denied include (but are not limited to):
- Appeals beyond the time limit (60 days following the end of the term being appealed).
- Failure to follow the proper withdrawal procedures.
- Lack of knowledge of applicable dates and timelines (SOU’s Academic Calendar is available to all students).
- Changes in work schedule or employment.
- Failure to verify class schedule changes, including changes made by the student via the web interface.
- Non-attendance of classes.
- Personal errors in judgment regarding the availability of finances to pay associated charges, including availability of financial aid.
- Personal errors in judgment regarding class work load and academic ability.
- Personal errors in judgment regarding time management.
- Personal errors in judgment regarding the availability of transportation to and from classes.
- Dissatisfaction with the course content or instructor. If appealing for this reason, contact the SOU Provost Office.
- Inadequate investigation of course requirements prior to registration / attendance (including repeated coursework and repeat course limits).
- Non-qualification, late application, or loss of eligibility for financial aid or scholarships.
- Failure to read information / notices sent to the student’s official SOU email. SOU’s Email Communication Policy is available for review.
- Student errors resulting in the delay of administrative processing relative to registration or the delivery of financial aid funds. This includes delays in resolving holds preventing registration activities.
- Appealing credits or tuition for courses which do not contribute towards major and/or degree requirements (including those resulting from changes in major or catalog year).
- Mandatory fee appeals (e.g. wishing to appeal the student fees due to not using the recreation center or student wellness center).
- Failure to verify self-enrollment in Distance & Continuing Education, Online, or Self-Support courses, resulting in additional tuition charges.
- Lack of documentation to support the appeal request.
- Failure to completely read all documentation regarding non-admit enrollment, continuing education, or professional development courses.
- Violation of any other SOU policy in the course of registration activities (including violation of the SOU Computing Resources Acceptable Use policy).
Appeals to Add Courses
Prior to finals week, courses may be added to a students record by obtaining an add/drop slip and securing the signatures of their Instructor, Department Chair, Division Director.
Add/Drop slips may be scanned / photographed and emailed to registrar@sou.edu.
After finals week, the student will be required to submit a formal appeal with a statement and documentation demonstrating extenuating circumstances that prevented adherence to established deadlines.
The following will not be considered extenuating circumstances for adding courses after finals week:
- Forgetting to register in a class even though attending.
- Failure to follow established wait-list policies and procedures.
- Expectation of faculty to register the student in class (except when documentation from faculty demonstrates the instructor advising the student of their ability to do so).
- Holds preventing student registration in the course.
Appeals to Change Course Options
Appeals to change course options will only be considered if the course being appealed allows the options to be changed.
- Credit load appeals will only be considered on variable credit courses.
- Grade mode appeals will only be considered for courses that allow changing of grade mode.
Course option appeals will require a student statement demonstrating extenuating circumstances which prevented adherence to established deadlines.
How to Complete an Appeal
The Appeal Process:
- Please complete this online form. This form is for appealing only. This is not the official withdrawal form.
- Make sure to enclose the required documentation when submitting an appeal.
- If you are seeking a medical or mental health-related withdrawal, you are required to upload a letter of support from your care provider. If you do not have your letter of support at the time of submitting your appeal, you must email it to the Office of the Dean of Students as soon as possible: dos@sou.edu.
- The committee meets the first and third Thursdays of every month to review completed withdrawal appeals.
- Appellants will be informed of the board’s decision within five business days of the meeting.
Please note the following:
- Students are responsible for providing supporting documentation. Decisions by the board will be based on information contained within the completed appeal. Students must ensure that all information pertinent to the appeal is included when delivering the appeal to the Raider Student Services. Incomplete or inadequate documentation may result in denial of the appeal.
- The board reserves the right to request additional information from any pertinent source to ensure a thorough review of the appeal.
- In accordance with SOU’s Email Communication Policy, all communication will be conducted through official SOU email accounts.