So Harvard may actually be flexible on the 6 month requirement and let him come back in January. Which would mean he took one semester off as he wanted? I don’t see the problem here, unless he is not allowed back in.
I am glad he made good use of the break, as did my kids. The break actually ended up being replenishing in more ways than just health.
Let us know the decision. If it is in his favor, I see no reason for complaint.
Again, I think fall medical leaves are more of a problem than spring ones, since spring leaves have the summer months to complete the 6 month requirement. Harvard is pretty flexible in how it looks at that “work” requirement and apparently still is.
We feel the real issue is chronic illnesses that flare, so they ebb and flow and are never actually fully “better.” They often want you to be better when coming back in! I certainly hope your son’s COVID sequelae are not in that category.
One other thing: not having housing is not necessarily an obstacle to attending. Two percent of undergrads live off campus, I believe. My daughter did this because her two medical leaves meant 5 1/2 years in dorms. Financial aid covers housing in an apartment, as well.
We are going to find out whether they are flexible or not. His treatment team all submitted letters that he is ready to go back and needs no accommodations so if they don’t let him back in it will be because they are not budging on the six month work requirement.
When I posted back in August it was because we’d been hit with rider and were hearing from other parents that they weren’t being flexible so we will see. I still think it is worth checking out any schools leave policy in this age of covid where not everyone is fine five days later. Also I think it is still a valid criticism that the six month work requirement is not in the student handbook and it doesn’t get dropped on the student until after they have been approved for leave.
He has been symptom free since the end of August so my guess is that he is fine. It’s been over three months now and he has been exercising again since the middle of August with no debilitating post exertion fatigue/brain fog crashes. That was the thing that was most troubling and why he put in the request in July.
They said that the consult wasn’t necessary after getting all of his medical releases in. For the past few weeks, he’d been in email communication back and forth with the DR who was going to evaluate his record. After he looked it all over, he said he didn’t need any more information. He contacted his AB Dean in October to go back and she advised he needed to wait until the end of November to submit everything to make a stronger case. So he did. He should have been on the ad board agenda last week but because the DR was slow to get to his records, he was not. His AB dean told him last week that he would be on it for today. So we will see.
That looks very good for them allowing him to restart. I wonder what they will do about housing? I imagine that he would just go into whatever house has a spot for him, if there’s no room in the house to which he’d been assigned last spring.
I’m happily optimistic for him that he’ll be back next month, and that all goes smoothly for him going forward, in good health!
First, we are still waiting to hear anything which is frustrating as they were supposed to hear his petition by now. But when he met with one of the deans this summer, she didn’t think it would be a problem because so many students were finishing this term because many class of 2022 ended up taking spring 2021 semester off after the first semester completely on line, so they had to stick around and finish up this fall. But the truth is, we have no idea because he hasn’t gotten an answer yet.
Coming back to update - they allowed him back in with only the four and half months of work instead of the six. So that’s a relief. I am glad it worked out for him but my it has been an extremely stressful several months not knowing whether that was going to happen. So my advice is the same, make sure you know what the schools policies are before you choose to send a kid off.
But some schools policies are written to cover worst cases (partly due to liability, partly to avoid financial and administrative burdens), and are flexible in practice, so this may not be a major criterion for choice of schools, even for those with health challenges. I think in some cases, the uncertainty is the problem.
@Jennibs so glad to hear this news and wishing your son a happy and healthy return to campus.
ps tuition refund insurance is always a good idea!
I’m glad that things have worked out and that you can start to put this behind you for good. Thanks for the update.
I appreciate this thread. Thanks for sharing your experience. I know medical leave is not what most people anticipate for their kid, and it doesn’t happen much. But when it happens to your family, it all of a sudden matters a lot.
I have to make sure my kid attends college with a decent hospital by campus, a major medical center not far away, and has means to get there should he need it. Though I don’t think he’ll ever need leave, thanks for prompting me to investigate leave policies. There are some schools that work wonderfully with student health issues and others that seem to be short on compassion. I’ve seen it at the institutions where I’ve worked. Hope your son continues his good health.
@Jennibc Thank you for continuing to post and inform with your story. I am so glad that your son is doing better. It is truly awful to watch your once 100% healthy, energetic child have trouble functioning, with very few answers as to why. On top of all the uncertainty and worry of a post-viral syndrome, you had to wrestle with more uncertainty and a mountain of bureaucracy from his college. All that documentation alone would have sent me up a wall! You’ve probably already spent days worth of time on the phone with doctor’s offices, diagnostic labs, and insurance companies. No offense to doctors (my beloved DH is one) but one of my least favorite tasks is trying to get doctors to fill out forms.
There has to be a better way for schools to treat families who are struggling with health issues. These kids are amazing people—they are not taking time off for the heck of it, or trying to sneak back into college before they have recovered.
Your story really resonated with me as someone whose kid should have taken a leave of absence from high school for health reasons, but did not due to the pressure from the system to stay the course, and the lack of help, guidance, or support to do anything different. My kid is doing okay now and will graduate from college this spring. I am so thankful, and never take anyone’s health for granted. It doesn’t matter whether you do everything right, most of health is genetics and pure chance.