Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Dr. Johanne Bénard,

I am appealing adding my courses after the Fall academic deadline. As a student at Queens, the opportunity this school has provided me to learn from the best professors and scholars has been life changing. Unfortunately, this summer I was put in a precarious position as my financial circumstances had changed drastically. Over my four-year tenure at Queen¿¿s it had been a challenge to finance my education along with the other responsibilities that had to be taken care of. Coming from a family of seven where four of my other siblings are also pursuing higher education it had been tough for my parents to finance my education on their own. As the eldest child, it was a necessary for me to step in and relieve some of the burden off my parents and not only help finance my education but also provide financial support to my brother who also pursues a post-secondary education. Whether it meant working menial jobs or limiting the amount I spent on necessities such as food and clothing, I was determined to not let money stop me or my siblings from getting an education. This summer, however, was totally different. My mother had lost her job and with that my family had lost a significant portion of income that aids us in not only financing our education but being able to provide the necessities of life. As the eldest child I tried my best not to let this harm me psychologically as I wanted to show my younger siblings what it meant to be strong in the face of adversity. However, it was very tough. My goal during the summer was to try to make as much money as possible to offset the lost income from my mother. That was easier said than done as I soon realized that I could not just save for my tuition as I had to help pay for my families rent, bills and food. Suddenly the task of being able to pay my tuition looked so daunting that I felt that for at least a semester, school would be out of the picture. At the time, my thinking was that if I can¿¿t even pay my tuition how will I ever have enough money to even feed and sustain myself without any support from my family back home in Toronto. Therefore, I had initially opted to forgo the fall semester until I could secure funds to pay for school. It was tough telling this to my parents. As immigrants to this country from Nigeria, my parents have made education paramount as it was not as easily accessible back home. I tried my longest to hold out for the first two weeks of classes and see if there was any breakthrough with my financial situation, however, I was unable to be approved for loans due to my poor credit. On the 23rd of September, my father had called me and said that he had been approved for a loan to help cover part of my tuition and that I should register for classes immediately. I was ecstatic at this point. The anxiety and depression that I faced due to being held back from learning at this wonderful school due to money had been erased. I felt that there was a level playing field now and that no amount of money could stop me from pursuing my goals at Queens. I was determined to get back on track and I used all my resources such as my roommates that were taking my courses and the library to get myself back on track. The only issue was that the deadline to add courses had past which is the reason I am appealing.

I have learned a lot from this experience and there are things that I plan to due in the future to avoid this. Being in my 4th year I only have the winter semester remaining however if this situation were to arise again the first thing I would do would be to initially register for my courses regardless of where I stand financially. As I learned through this experience, it is easier to drop before the deadline than to add after it. Regarding the financial aspect, even though it is hard to predict when rainy days come along I will strive to not only put myself in better financial positions, such as maintaining some sort of savings, but also try to be more positive and not let bad times weigh on me psychologically and affect my judgment. Overall, I have learned from this and I appreciate you taking the time to see this situation from my perspective. Thank you so much for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,
Emmanuel Esedafe