In This Section:
Students are responsible for observing sessional dates, course prerequisites, exclusions, satisfying the degree requirements, and following the rules and regulations in the Calendar and the Academic Dates & Deadlines webpage. Failure to follow regulations, requirements and deadlines may result in academic and/or financial consequences or penalties, and failure to familiarize oneself about these will not be accepted as sufficient rationale to avoid these consequences. Students should always consult their College Registrar’s Office immediately for guidance if anything happens that interferes with continuing or completing their courses, or that appears to be contrary to rules, regulations and deadlines.
Special Consideration Requests to Academic Department(s)
Special consideration requests to academic department(s)/unit(s) (sometimes called Academic Appeals) concern issues arising within a course that relate to the pedagogical relationship of the instructor and the student, such as the organization of a course, or grading practices. These fall within the authority of the academic unit sponsoring the course and are not under the purview of Faculty petitions. Students are encouraged to discuss any issues regarding the academic aspects of a course first with the instructor. It is recommended that such discussions be documented in writing where possible. The successive stages of special consideration request after the course instructor must be submitted by the student in writing. These successive stages are: 1) the Associate Chair, Undergraduate (or equivalent); 2) the Chair or Program Director of the Academic Unit; 3) the Office of the Dean, Faculty of Arts & Science. A special consideration request must have been reviewed at the academic unit level before being referred to the Dean’s Office; requests to the Dean’s Office must be in writing.
Petitions to the Faculty
Students considering petitioning should review the Arts & Science Petitions webpage for additional and more specific information, in addition to the Academic Calendar.
Petitions to the Faculty concern issues relating to degree requirements, academic regulations, deadlines, examinations, and administrative rules. The Faculty recognizes that an exception to Faculty policies may be warranted when unpredictable and exceptional circumstances impact a student’s academic progress. As part of a petition request, students will need to provide a statement explaining the extenuating circumstances they experienced, the impact of those circumstances on their academic progress, and the steps they took to mitigate the impact of the circumstances on their academic progress. Students must provide sufficient documentation supporting the information reported in their personal statement. Students are requested to present their entire case from the outset, demonstrating that they acted responsibly and with good judgment in attempting to observe Faculty policies and regulations. All petitions submitted to the Faculty are reviewed in a consistent and equitable manner. A petition is considered in confidence by the Faculty petitions office on behalf of the Committee on Standing, which is responsible for interpreting and administering the regulations of the Faculty. There is no guarantee that a petition will see a successful outcome.
Students considering submitting a petition to the Faculty are encouraged to seek academic advising from their College Registrar's Office.
It is the responsibility of the student to provide a valid U of T email address to which a petition decision may be sent.
Deadlines to Submit Petitions
The deadlines for petitions are strictly enforced. Students must submit a petition by the deadline associated with the petition type (see below). If there are compelling reasons why a petition is being submitted after the deadline, the student must explain the reasons for the late submission in their personal statement and provide relevant documentation to support their rationale. The issue of lateness must be satisfactorily resolved before the substance of the petition is considered. Late petitions without sufficient reason for lateness will not be granted, no matter how compelling.
The deadline for each petition type is referenced under each petition type below.
Types of Petitions
Petitions for Term Work Extension(s) (see also Term Work, Tests and Final Exams)
Matters concerning term work normally fall within the authority of the instructor. Students unable to comply with given deadlines must contact their instructor prior to the deadline to request an extension to the deadline or other solution. Students should expect no consideration if an issue is raised after the assignment deadline, unless unpredictable circumstances arose shortly before the deadline that prevented them from meeting the deadline.
All term work must be submitted by the date specified by the instructor. Instructors may grant individual students extensions up to five business days after the end of the examination period, provided that a student presents legitimate reasons with appropriate documentation. Extensions beyond five business days after the end of the examination period can be approved only through a petition. Students are expected to consult with their instructor about a proposed deadline before petitioning for an extension of time. The Faculty petitions office, under the authority of the Committee on Standing, may consult with the relevant academic unit for information about the status of the course work, proposed deadline, and the steps, if any, that must be taken to complete the course work. Students are expected to continue working on the outstanding assignments while they await a decision.
When a term work extension petition has been granted for work in a course, a notation of “SDF” (standing deferred) is placed on the transcript in place of a final mark. Students who have the notation of SDF for a course who have earned a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of less than 1.50 are strongly encouraged to include in their personal statement an academic plan for the term in which they will be completing the outstanding work. The Faculty reserves the right to limit registration or course load in a subsequent session for students who have outstanding academic obligations from a previous term. Students who find themselves in this situation are strongly encouraged to seek academic advising from their College Registrar’s office.
Deadline: The deadline to submit a petition for a term work extension is five (5) business days after the last day of the examination period for the term in question. The deadline to submit a petition for a further extension on term work is five (5) business days after the deadline outlined in the original petition decision. All documentation supporting petitions must be submitted as soon as possible, and no later than three (3) weeks after the date the student submits the petition. Refer to the Supporting Documentation for Petitions section below for more details. See the Deadlines to Submit Petitions section above for information on late submission of a petition.
Petitions for Withdrawal Without Academic Penalty (WDR)
A student may petition the Faculty for a withdrawal without academic penalty when they feel that they were unable to complete a course due to extenuating circumstances outside their control. Typically, a withdrawal petition is pursued when no other type of petition request (like term work extension, or a deferred final exam) will remedy the situation.
It is important to note that students who intend to finish a course, and therefore do not drop the course themselves (either by the last day to cancel on ACORN, or through their College Registrar’s office for an “LWD”), assume responsibility for the course. The Faculty assumes that students who stay in a course to the end have assessed their progress and marks and decided to take the course to completion (i.e. they have written the final examination or final piece of term work (in courses without a final examination)), regardless of any circumstances. Therefore, a withdrawal without academic penalty petition has a much lower chance of success when a student has taken the course to completion.
If a withdrawal without academic penalty petition is granted, the course is not removed from the transcript, but the notation “WDR” is placed on the transcript in place of a final mark. Once a WDR has been placed on the student’s academic record, no credit is received for the course and there is no impact on any GPA.
Please note that a granted WDR does not have any impact on fees. Because a WDR is granted beyond any fee refund deadlines, students are still responsible for any tuition or other fees incurred.
Deadline: The deadline to submit a petition for WDR depends on the session. For Fall/Winter Session courses, the deadline is the following 15 November. For Summer Session courses, the deadline is the following 28/29 February. All supporting documentation must be submitted as soon as possible, and no later than three (3) weeks after the date the student submits the petition. Refer to the Supporting Documentation for Petitions section below for more details. See the Deadlines to Submit Petitions section above for information on late submission of a petition.
Petitions for Examinations
Students are expected to write their examinations as scheduled. Petitions based on travel, employment, or personal plans will not be considered as students are expected to make themselves available during the published Examination Period to write final examinations.
Deferred Examinations: In situations where a student is unable to write their final exam due to extenuating circumstances (e.g. illness), they may request a deferral. A student who is too ill and/or incapacitated at the start of the exam, should not attempt to write the exam. Instead, they should submit a petition for a deferred examination.
Re-Deferred Examinations: Students who miss a deferred examination will receive a mark of zero for the examination in the calculation of the final grade. Only under exceptional circumstances (e.g., hospitalization or significant personal emergency), supported by strong documentation, will a petition for a second deferral of the examination be considered.
Examination Re-Writes for In-Person Final Exams: Students who write an examination may not petition to rewrite it, except under extraordinary circumstances such as a sudden acute illness during the examination. If a student becomes suddenly and acutely ill at an in-person examination and needs to abandon the examination, they must notify the Chief Presiding Officer (CPO) immediately, sign the appropriate form and promptly leave the examination to seek medical attention. The personal statement reporting illness requires both corroboration from the CPO and documentation from a licensed health care professional on the day of the examination. Students who leave the examination hall without notifying the CPO will be assumed to have completed the examination. Having once abandoned an examination, a student should be aware that consideration may not be given again for the same circumstances.
Examination Re-Writes for Online Final Exams: Students who encounter extenuating circumstances during an online final exam should immediately contact their course instructor and follow the instructions they provide.
Important Notes:
When a petition for an examination has been granted with respect to a course, a notation of SDF (standing deferred) is placed on the transcript in place of a final mark. After the examination is written, the SDF will be replaced with the final grade in the course. Decisions of approved petitions for examinations advise students of the examination period in which the examination will take place, and whether the examination will be a special examination at an alternate examination period or the regular examination with the next offering of the course. If a petition for an examination is granted and is to be written in a subsequent term, the student is strongly encouraged to reduce their course load in that term to allow time for preparation of the petitioned examination.
To write a petitioned examination, students must pay a fee of $73.50 per petitioned examination (maximum $147.00 for multiple requests in the same petition) by the deadline provided in the petition decision. Students who have paid the petitioned examination fee by the published payment deadline will receive their personal petitioned examination schedule. Students who do not pay the fee may not be eligible to write the petitioned examination, nor can a missed payment be the basis to petition for a further deferral of the examination.
When a student misses a petitioned examination sitting, they should immediately seek academic advising from their College Registrar’s Office submitting a petition for a further deferral of their unwritten final examination. If the student does not write a petitioned examination, the "SDF" notation will be replaced by the original grade, with a grade of "0" for the final examination in the calculation of the final grade.
Students who must write a petitioned examination in a course that serves as a prerequisite for subsequent courses may enrol in those subsequent courses provided they obtain the approval of the academic unit concerned and provided the term mark in the prerequisite (deferred) course is at least 60%. If approval from the academic unit is not obtained, there is a risk that students may be removed from the subsequent course during a prerequisite check and reinstatement may not be possible if the course is full.
Students who have the notation of SDF on a course and who have earned a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of less than 1.50 are strongly encouraged by the Faculty to include in their personal statement an academic plan for the term in which they will be completing the outstanding exam(s). The Faculty reserves the right to limit registration or course load in a subsequent term for students who have outstanding academic obligations from a previous term. Students who find themselves in this situation should seek academic advising from their College Registrar’s office.
Deadline: The deadline to submit an examination-related petition with supporting documentation (i.e., deferred examination, re-deferred examination and/or examination re-write petition) is three (3) business days after the examination date. Refer to the Supporting Documentation for Petitions section below for more details.
Please note that the deadline to submit an examination-related petition for courses from other divisions may be different from the Faculty of Arts & Science deadline. Visit relevant divisional Calendars for specific dates and deadlines. See the Deadlines to Submit Petitions section above for information on late submission of a petition.
Supporting Documentation for Petitions
A petition request should include documentation that provides pertinent evidence to support the information disclosed. This will be used to determine whether an exception to the Faculty's policy or guidelines should be granted or not, in order to ensure equitable treatment for all students. If the reasons cited in a petition are of a medical nature, the preferred medical documentation at the University of Toronto is the University's Verification of Illness or Injury Form. Students must submit the Verification of Illness or Injury form when submitting a petition to their College Registrar’s office. This form may only be completed by approved licensed practitioners as listed on the form. The form can be found at www.illnessverification.utoronto.ca.
If illness is being presented as the reason for the petition request, this alone may not necessarily be sufficient grounds to guarantee an approval of the request. All cases are examined in their entirety before a decision is made. An illness or injury’s duration and level of impact on academic functioning are considered along with other relevant factors in the context of the course at issue. Note that the practitioner’s report must establish that the patient was examined and diagnosed at the time of illness, not after the fact. If the practitioner’s report does not explicitly establish this, then the Faculty reserves the right to use its discretion in accepting the report as supporting documentation for the reported illness.
If the reasons cited for a petition request are of a non-medical nature, then the supporting documentation may come in various forms. Consult with your College Registrar’s office and the Arts & Science Petitions webpage for more information on possible types of supporting documentation that should be submitted in other circumstances.
Appeals
Any student looking to appeal a denied request is strongly encouraged to seek academic advising from their College Registrar’s office. If a student’s initial petition is denied, they may appeal (through the following stepwise processes).
- Committee on Standing (COS): The Committee on Standing will review an appeal request with new information not presented in the original petition request or reporting a procedural irregularity within 90 days of the original petition decision date. Appeals must be submitted to the student’s College Registrar’s office.
- Faculty Academic Appeals Board (AAB): To appeal a denied COS appeal, students must submit their request in writing to their College Registrar’s office within 90 days of the COS decision. An appeal request should include new information not presented with the COS appeal or a report of a procedural irregularity.
- Academic Appeals Committee of the Governing Council: To appeal a denied AAB appeal, students must submit a Notice of Appeal and other related documents to the Academic Appeals Committee of the Office of Appeals, Discipline and Faculty Grievances (ADFG) of Governing Council in Simcoe Hall within 90 days of the AAB decision. Students considering submitting an appeal to the Academic Appeals Committee of the Governing Council should carefully review the instructions outlined here: governingcouncil.utoronto.ca/processes/academic-appeals.
