DD's Uni asked her to repeat a whole year without marking her work because she missed their emails asking her if she was going to meet a certain deadline. DS has been suicidal and is not talking

[sayitwithcolors]

DD's Uni asked her to repeat a whole year without marking her work because she missed their emails asking her if she was going to meet a certain assignment submission deadline. She made a later deadline and they would not mark her work at all. The reason she missed the deadline was because DS has been suicidal and is not talking to her or me.
AIBU to be mad at DD's Uni. We appealed the first time and gave them this reason and they refused. Please could anyone advise on what constitutes a compelling argument to make them change their mind. DD is freaking out and is now very depressed. Help please as I'm at a loss of what to do.

Your post isn't very clear, but what I've interpreted is that your daughter wasn't properly communicating with her university, and that's why things got to this point of having to repeat the year. Is this correct?

It sounds like you’re not getting the full story to be honest.

A meeting with her personal tutor would be the best place to start. And then get some advice from the Students Union if needed.

If she has failed to communicate with her uni and has missed deadlines, then she has to face the consequences.

If she is struggling to cope with your DS's situation, perhaps a bit of time out and less pressure might not actually be a bad thing.

But are you sure this is all there is to it?

It sounds like you’ve had a lot going on

I wouldn’t bet on any uni students claiming “missed” emails about deadlines. These are set out months in advance. Emails are so accessible too. I think there was a failure in asking for extensions rather than looking back on missed deadlines

A family crisis may be a good reason for missing deadlines but its not a good reason for not communicating with the university about missing those deadlines, preferably in advance.

Somewhere there should be a policy about how this is dealt with and how to appeal.

I suppose it depends how many emails, over what period of time and when she first let her university know that she was dealing with a lot at home. I'm so sorry that you are all in this situation - have you been able to actually speak to a real person about it as I feel that this kind of thing is often best dealt with directly with someone who can at least reassure you that you have been listened to rather than 'processed' as it were.

It would be a perfectly reasonable request to ask for an extension in those circumstances but it sounds like she didn’t ask and just missed the deadline and also didn’t respond to more than one email about about it.

IME university’s are very supportive and will give extensions but the expectation is that there has to be communication. Did she not speak with anyone prior to missing the deadline? Why didn’t she respond to emails?

Extenuating circumstances surely?

I’m not understanding why they are refusing to mark her work for the whole year though? You do assignments and they can’t marked upon completion. So even if she didn’t finish one or two assignments, or the dissertation, I don’t see why she’d need to repeat a full year.

Sounds to me there’s something more going on here?…

Sorry to hear about your DS x

The university will have an appeal process. This will be in the academic regulations and ask your daughter to contact her faculty support team. She may not be allowed to appeal but it is certainly worth trying.

I'm sorry to hear about your DS I hope things improve.

I used to work in this area in a university and it doesn't really get to that point unless there's been a lack of engagement.

When you say you appealed the first time, has this happened before, or do you mean at the start of this situation?

There should be a student advice centre who would be able to advise your DD on what to do next. She should contact them asap.

Although if this was from last academic year and she's to repeat this year, it really is time critical.

Yes, that is correct. No excuses, but DS's suicidal attempts rocked our world and still does as he disappeared since Jan 21 and would not talk to us.

She is an adult, and I think she'll have to live with her mistake.

Extenuating circumstances almost always need to be requested before the deadline is missed.

I'm sorry about your ds, but I'm not sure that situation will convince the uni she couldn't have followed the required procedure.

Students are given their deadlines at the start of each semester, so September and January. The main exam diet is in April/May. The exam board meets in June to discuss the progress of each student. If someone is failing or hasn't communicated, they are given resits in August. The exam board meets again in August and those still failing are put into academic suspension, where they must repeat a year before they can progress.

Your DD would have had a lot of opportunities to submit extenuating circumstances or discuss this with her personal tutor. If she has been asked to repeat, it means she failed to communicate with the university with regard to any of her modules - twice. I don't think you'll get very far with an appeal because it sounds like she will simply have too much to make up.

Where I work a student is permitted to carry over one 20 credit module into the next year but any more than that and they go into suspension.

She had her deadlines for a long time. She missed them and didnt communicate with her anyone. She didnt even have to email every professor. One email to her advisor would have taken care of it.

If you miss deadlines and don't communicate then its academic suspension.

Thanks everyone, for the advice and kindness. Appreciated.

Something similar happened with my sister but she was suffering with depression and attempted to take her life a few times - she was able to have the work marked eventually.

Go to your doctor and get DD to say how’s she’s been feeling regarding the situation with her brother- be honest if she has been feeling depressed or anxious. They may be able to give you a note to support a claim for ‘special circumstances’ with the university.
If the work is done and it’s just a matter of she missed a deadline with what’s been going on she should be able to appeal but you need to have something to support that.

If worse comes to worse it’s repeating a year.
Is she first year uni?
The first year doesn’t go towards your final mark but if it’s a second or third year honestly with what you’ve described I’d consider re-taking the year so your DD can start fresh with less stress.

If she has appealed to the University and was turned down you have the right to complain to the HE ombudsman
www.oiahe.org.uk/about-us/reviewing-complaints/what-happens-when-a-student-complains-to-us/

Your case won’t succeed unless you have evidence the University materially breached its own procedures or you can present new evidence that wasn’t available to the University for good reason when it took the
contested decision.

Good luck OP

It sounds like she’s missed the boat for extenuating circumstances, they can’t award it after a deadline has passed. Won’t they let her just resit as if she’s failed? In which case her mark will be capped at 50%. She should try talking to a student welfare officer on campus to start with and go from there.

It doesn’t sound like the reason is the problem, just that she didn’t get her extenuating circumstances sorted in time.

Are we sure that’s the full story with DD? It doesn’t sound like it. I repeated a year at Uni for failing a mandatory module (just pissed about too much), that’s typically the type of thing they make you retake a year for. Other modules you could carry over to the next year but because I was a dickhead I failed the mandatory one. I didn’t incur a full tuition fee for that year though I don’t think, but it taught me a huge lesson, that maybe dd needs to learn. I went on to get a 1st class UG and a Phd and work for the University, so I promise, whilst a bit shit, it’s not the end of the world for her.

I’m sorry to her DS is struggling!

Did she sit her exams?

Is it just coursework she was late with, or did she also miss the exams?

I took a few more years to finish @sayitwithcolors . She could get a doctor to write her a note or something which might help get it marked, but at PP's said you might not be being told everything.

Maybe an actual year out will help?

Or if the years been full of that much upheaval, she might get better grades if she repeated it.

Better to take longer and get a decent grade than scrape through if she's capable of more, IMHO.

I had mental health problems that made it harder to give a consistent performance. Also had a missed miscarriage in my final year/focussed too much on boyfriends which meant I was too far behind.

So I came back in on a 'good year' and got a 1st in the end.

I'm at uni doing my second degree and I think she might not be telling you the whole truth, so YABU to be mad without the full picture. Not sure what you can do though if she won't tell you. I think you're going to have to somehow reassure her that you won't be angry/disappointed with her if she comes clean. She might feel bad telling you the truth because of the upset you've had with your DS.