Academic Appeals Process and Procedures

The College of Engineering has developed this process to review student requests to retroactively drop or withdraw from a course, or, retroactive readmission from an academic suspension or dismissal. If you only wish to appeal a course grade or file a grievance, you should complete a Grade Appeal Form (available in the Office of the Associate Dean for Student Services and Undergraduate Affairs).

Feel free to contact the Office of Student Services at studentsupport@eng.famu.fsu.edu or (850) 410-6565 if you have any questions or need additional information.

Important Deadlines

  • Spring 2024 Appeals Cycle to open December 21st, 2023 (for courses taken Spring 2023, Summer 2023, and Fall 2023)
  • Spring 2024 Appeals Deadline: February 2nd, 2024
    Results emailed to students by: March 8th, 2024
  • Summer 2024 Appeals Cycle to open May 8th, 2024 (for courses taken Summer 2023, Fall 2023, and Spring 2024)
  • Summer 2024 Appeals Deadline:  June 7th, 2024
    Results emailed to students by: July12th, 2024
  • Fall 2024 Appeals Cycle to open by: August 12th, 2024

Retroactive Drop or Withdrawal Appeal Procedure

To file an Academic Appeal to the College of Engineering, please select this link Online Appeals Form (available December 21st, 2023 - February 2nd, 2024).

Please note: In order to access the appeals form you will need a valid Engineering account and password. Please see the Office of the Associate Dean for Student Services and Undergraduate Affairs for instructions on obtaining an account. (Panama City students, call 850-410-6565 or 850-410-6423). Need to reset your password? Email the Help Desk, visit room A332 or call (850) 410-6446.

Academic appeal requests are reviewed by a committee of engineering faculty members who vote to approve or deny the request. The committee's decision is based on (1) your written justification, (2) supporting documentation, (3) your academic record, and (4) the number of previous appeals granted. It is critical that your written justification clearly demonstrates that the situation was outside of your immediate control. The committee will not approve requests that are justified due to (a) poor time management, (b) poor decision making, (c) poor planning, or (d) bad luck. Also, courses with a grade of 'C-' or better and courses which have been adjudicated or are under review for academic honor policy violations are not eligible for retroactive actions. To check the status or review the outcome of your case, you may email Dr. Suba Iyer directly.

Retroactive Drop or Withdrawal Appeal Policy

The College of Engineering has developed this process to review student requests to retroactively drop or withdraw from a course, or, for retroactive readmission from an academic suspension or dismissal.

  1. Retroactive Course Drop/Withdrawal Process

    An application for a retroactive course drop or withdrawal must be made within one year of the original course attempt. Applications received after one year will not be accepted. It is recommended that you submit your application during the semester immediately after taking the course. Please note the deadline for appeals each semester listed at the top of the page. All applications received after the deadline are deferred until the next semester. So, if you missed the deadline in the last semester your application is eligible for review, it will not be accepted for review.

    In your application, you must indicate one of the following four reasons for your request:

    1. medical,
    2. death of an immediate family member,
    3. military service obligation, or
    4. other.

     

    Your written justification must make it clear that the events were outside of your immediate control. You should specifically address why this situation affected the class or classes you wish to drop and not other courses you were also taking that semester. You should also describe what steps you took to mitigate the problem. For example, the committee wants to know why you did not drop the course before the semester course drop/withdrawal deadline.

    It is vital that you submit supporting documentation. Please bring it to Room B-111 at the College of Engineering by the application deadline. Applications without supporting documentation will not be reviewed.

    Finally, the College of Engineering does not approve retroactive course drops or withdrawals for GPA repair, if you do not need course anymore, you did not know the engineering withdrawal deadline, etc.

  2. Retroactive University Withdrawal Procedure/Process

    If you need to drop or withdraw from every course you took during a semester, you must request a retroactive university withdrawal. You will follow the same procedure listed above for the Retroactive Course Drop/Withdrawal process.

  3. Reinstatement from University Suspension or Dismissal

    The following options are available to students who have been suspended or dismissed from their home university and wish to be reinstated or readmitted back into the college.

    If this is your first dismissal or suspension, you may be eligible for immediate reinstatement if your GPA is close to 2.00. We define "close" as being within six (6) quality points of a 2.00. To determine if you may qualify for an immediate reinstatement, multiply the number of semester hours you have attempted by two (2) and subtract your current total number of quality points. If the difference is less than or equal to six (6), you may qualify for immediate reinstatement. You should call the Office of the Associate Dean for Student Services and Undergraduate Affairs at (850) 410-6361 for more information.

    If this is your first dismissal or suspension and you have more than a six (6) quality point deficit, you will need to apply for re-admission to the engineering program. You will need to sit out the semester while your application is under review. In your written justification, you should elaborate on what problems or challenges you faced which contributed to your dismissal or suspension, how you have solved these problems, and how you plan to avoid being dismissed or suspended again.

    If you have already been dismissed, you will need to contact the Office of the Associate Dean for Student Services and Undergraduate Affairs at (850) 410-6361 to determine if you are eligible to continue in engineering.