Right to Appeal

Occasionally, a student’s academic progress may be delayed by circumstances beyond his/her control. A student may appeal:

For federal financial aid to continue after the student has been placed on Academic Probation, or
For an extension when it has been determined that a student cannot complete his or her program within the allowed attempted credit limits per their individual program requirements and will need more time to complete their degree program, or
To get permission to make a substantial change of program if he/she has already made a substantial change once, or
To be reinstated in the University and his/her program of study after being Academically Dismissed. All Academic Dismissal Appeals must be submitted within 10 calendar days of the dismissal notification.

Students must be able to regain good standing status by the next SAP evaluation point. Appeals by students who cannot mathematically attain good standing by the next evaluation point will not be considered.

Students able to regain good standing status who wish to appeal for any of the above reasons should email their academic advisor or SAPHELP@ncu.edu to request a SAP appeal form. Completed SAP appeal forms, including supporting documentation, should be emailed to SAPhelp@ncu.edu for the SAP Appeal Committee to review. The SAP Appeal Committee comprised of various University leaders who meet on a periodic basis to review student appeals. Committee appeal decisions are made within 15 business days of receipt and are final. Students may not submit a second appeal for the same situation without new information documenting any extenuating circumstances not previously disclosed.

For doctoral candidates, as a condition of approval, students must sign a learning contract. The learning contract will detail academic expectations that must be met during the extension period. Failure to meet learning contract specifications will result in dismissal from the University. A doctoral candidate with more than six months to the Maximum Timeframe may be asked to sign a learning contract. In this case, the student will complete a SAP appeal and the learning contract for review by the SAP committee. If the appeal is approved, the doctoral candidate will receive an additional year program extension beyond the Maximum Timeframe.

For consideration, students should provide the following:

An explanation and/or document that he/she has suffered from extenuating circumstances such as death of a relative, injury, disability, illness or other special circumstances;
Specific information in the Appeal regarding why he/she failed to meet SAP;
And an explanation as to what has changed in the student’s situation that will allow him/her to achieve SAP by the next evaluation.

NOTE: Dismissal for violations of Code of Conduct, Academic Integrity, or Attendance and Continuous Enrollment are discussed in Section 8.