Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Maleeha Ghani
Unit 2, 213B King St E
Kingston ON K7L3A5
613 888 6520

January 1, 2015

To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Maleeha Ghani and my student number is 06320796. I am writing this letter in order to appeal to drop my classes from the fall semester of 2014 and have them erased from my transcript, as well as a reimbursement for this semester. I returned to Queen's University in the summer semester and achieved better grades than I had in the past, and I had a strong work ethic. However, due to extenuating personal circumstances I was unable to concentrate on my courses.

My situation is as follows -

1. When I returned to school in April, I full well knew that my parents were unable to support me financially. Even with an 80 course load, I worked full time and got through the semester. However, financial troubles at home increased and my inability to aid my mother plagued me and eventually culminated into my financial stress this semester when with three classes (ENGL 257, GNDS 212 and RELS131) I could no longer work full time and did not have ample funding for personal expenses.

2. During the summer semester, my mother suffered an angina attack. Amongst her plethora of illnesses (heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc), this did not help her case. She has been in a sensitive health condition since, and my many trips to Ottawa to see her also deterred my success in my school work this summer. I have two sisters who live in Ottawa, but we have all moved out of the family home, thus making it difficult for us to keep an eye on our mother.

3. Lastly, the financial troubles at home culminated into my parents seeking a divorce very recently. Once this became solidified it affected me negatively when I completely lost track of my school work and where I was standing in my classes.

With all of this said and done, I am very aggravated by the lack of control I had this semester in terms of my classes. After experiencing a lot of anxiety, I sought help from a counsellor at Lasalle. Cathy advised me to book an appointment with a Learning Strategist as soon as I can for next semester, and we discussed what course of action to take if this appeal is approved or disapproved. A better sleeping pattern, exercise, healthy food habits ¿¿ all of which I was lacking this semester due to my inability to cope with stress.

I would like to continue pursuing my degree in the winter semester, and I sincerely believe that I am going to succeed in my goals. I would like to finish my degree by 2017 at the latest, and I want to pursue a post graduate public relations program at Humber College thereafter.

I am writing this letter of appeal in hopes of having my grades from this semester not appear on my transcript, as well as a reimbursement. I believe that this will set me up for success for the winter semester, and I will benefit from this.

I sincerely hope that you will give my appeal a careful consideration and understand that my family life had played an immense role in my semester during the fall, and I am just beginning to make changes in order not to allow such issues affect my school work.

Thank you very much for your time and I hope to hear back from you soon.

Maleeha Ghani
06320796