Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: April 25, 2023

Hello,

I am writing today to appeal to change my GPHY 415 2021-2022 grade to an incomplete.

Background

I first took GPHY 415 (6.0) in 2020-2021 term but ?lost?? the semester after witnessing the death of a peer on February 28th, 2021, had serious effects on my mental health. Details of this are contained in a previous appeal (attached), where I late dropped two classes and was granted an incomplete designation on GPHY 415 and another class. Unfortunately, despite intervention during the summer, my mental health continued to deteriorate, and both of those classes lapsed into failing grades (details contained in attached previous appeal).

In September 2021, I wrote to the head of geography and was allowed to re-take GPHY 415 (at this time, I did not understand that I could have extended the incomplete, something I learned about this year in October). During this time, I was also working full time as an operations manager to supplement my OSAP loans and grants, as my family is unable to provide financial support for me. I was motivated to maintain a full-time course load to be included under my mom??s health benefits, which would allow me to access dental, eye, and prescription coverage that would be otherwise unaffordable. The combination of working full time and maintaining full time hours as a student was difficult, and my mental health deteriorated in the winter semester. In April, I left my managerial job for a less stressful job and worked with my professor on a plan for completing the course over the summer and enlisted the support of an occupational therapist.

In August 2022, I worked with my occupational therapist to appeal late drop the courses I had failed the previous summer to remove the ?F?? grades from my transcript. My appeal was granted, but a clerical error meant that my GPHY 415 2021-2022 course was dropped instead of my GPHY 415 2020-2021 course (email exchanges attached). This error was not resolved until October, when I was informed that I could appeal to extend the incomplete to the term (as it had lapsed into an F during the time the error was being resolved).

Starting in September 2022, I no longer was eligible for OSAP (having already taken 5 years in undergraduate degree) and was not eligible for the Queen??s General Bursary. I got another job and enrolled in 60% course load to be able to qualify for AMS health benefits. I was unable to afford food and was enrolled in the Swipe It Forward program in October. My focus at this time was on survival: finding enough money to stay in my apartment (already subsidized by Queen??s), finding creative ways to afford to eat (accessing many food security resources on campus), and staying employed.

In January 2023, I reached out to the Queen??s Awards in desperation, as my overdue tuition meant I was not able to enroll in classes. I was supported to file an appeal, and I was awarded a general bursary amount that allowed some breathing room. Further support came from the federal one-time rent top up in March.

GPHY 415 is my last unfulfilled requirement to graduate with a B.Sc. Honours degree, which would open the possibility of pursuing further education if I am able to in the future. I have one outstanding paper between me and graduation and the paper is days short of completion as I was on track to complete the course in September 2022.

I am afraid that if I graduate with a general degree, my financial circumstances will make it impossible for me to return to school to retake GPHY 415 (a full year, in person class) to upgrade it to in the future. For these reasons, I am appealing for an exception and to extend the incomplete designation to allow me to complete this course, and my degree, over the summer.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Jane Ford
20077017
(613) 284-6569