<p>My brother just finished his business degree this past month. Today he gets a call from his counselor telling him she made a mistake and that he needs another class! Is there anything that can be done? He met with her multiple times to make sure everything was on track.</p>
<p>I’m sorry your brother is in this situation. Ultimately it is his responsibility to understand and make sure he meets all of the requirements for his degree. Is he no longer close enough to take the class? If not, will the university allow him to take it at a school near him and transfer the credit? I am not discounting the frustration, however at this point he simply needs to find out how to fulfill the requirement.</p>
<p>it is going to be a pretty straight forward situation; if your brother does not meet the requirements for the degree, he will not get a degree. I agree with blue, that the responsibility ultimately lies with your brother who is responsibile for knowing what he needs to graduate. He needs to find out if he can take a course over the summer so that he can be an august grad.</p>
<p>???</p>
<p>I don’t know about your bro’s school, but usually schools have some kind of “grad check” in place that occurs several months before graduation. It’s often done thru the registrar’s office. If your brother did such a “grad check” and was given the “all clear” 
then the school really can’t come back and claim an error…they have to issue the diploma or offer some kind of option such as taking the class for free or something.</p>
<p>I have within an arm’s reach of such a document from my son’s school. It says that all his req’ts are complete…that was issued in January. He graduated in May.</p>
<p>Did your brother’s school have such a process and did he go thru it?</p>
<p>It’s possible that the registrar’s office issued the “all clear” (so to speak) when looking at the wrong thing…such as previously required requirements. Or, perhaps your brother took a class that was a “substitute” for the required class, and all he needs is the right signature to solve the problem.</p>
<p>Having spent many years doing “graduation checkouts” - I have to agree with mom2collegekids.</p>
<p>Yes, it is his responsibility to make sure he is meeting all the degree requirements, BUT - if he was cleared by his college (or department or the registrar or whoever) to graduate, then it is their problem. I always knew that I was responsible for whatever I sent thru to my dean/department head. </p>
<p>Has your brother actually graduated? Diploma in hand???</p>
<p>what a horrible situation! Have him argue it. However, if the class must be taken then he should just bite the bullet and do it.</p>
<p>Having gone thru the checklist 4 times for myself I find it hard to believe that any college would have made such an error. Heck, the college DD will be attending in the fall has an awesome ‘degree plan app’ on the school’s site that pulls all your info together from transcripts and fills in the checklist. For paper based systems the school begins to hound you a semester plus before graduation, and in grad school a year (file degree plan, the works). </p>
<p>Was this mystery class expected to not be taken, transfer from another school, last minute substitution, a prerequisite of some kind not met, or what? I did have a couple of ‘Dear Turbo’ phone calls 2 weeks into my last semester from the Dean’s office, but they were legit issues caused by amateur hour advising and no harm done.</p>
<p>Yup my son just went through multiple “check points” starting the end of junior year to ensure he had all his classes in place and would graduate this month. And if there was an “error” the cost of the class is on the college and that is in writing on the “check point” documents. What happened?.. is the very first question and that question needs to be asked of the school and of his advisor IF your brother did everything he was supposed to. My son’s school allowed kids to walk if they are short 1 class but they won’t issue the official documents or release any final transcripts until the work is completed.</p>
<p>First understand that even though your brother is probably telling the whole truth, there is a small chance that he is not. </p>
<p>Assuming that he really did get blessings for graduation, the new news deserves to be challenged.</p>
<p>My friend’s D, who was NMF, graduated with honors, etc. (super smart, responsible kid, not the type to “miss” anything) was found to be lacking a requirement–one course (3 credit hours) short during her last semester–too late to add. The issue was a misinterpretation of which subjects could fulfill that particular requirement. She had enough credit hours overall. She was allowed to walk with her class at graduation (small private school), and made up the credit by taking a summer class at another (cheaper, public) college after “graduation.” This would’ve been embarrassing, but no one in her class would have known about it if she didn’t tell them.</p>
<p>I’ve seen variations on this theme occur too many times not to believe it could happen. I even have a cousin who did not know he graduated until he showed up to register in the fall and was told he was done. </p>
<p>A lot of schools let students “walk” who have not completed their graduation requirements, but those students won’t get the diploma until those requirements are met. My brother did not get his senior thesis done to the satisfaction of his mentor and had to spend the summer revamping it, so he did not really graduate in May/June, though he went through the ceremony. I did not know until I got my son’s diploma in hand whether or not he had graduated as there was a question about a course for him that needed a departmental waiver. which he did get. </p>
<p>At my son’s high school, they did not give out diplomas but some rolled up replica. The diplomas had to be picked up after the ceremony, and if you owed money to the school, had to serve disciplinary time, failed to meet any school requirements, you needed to get it resolved , hopefully over the summer, before you got the degree. The ceremony did not mean anything in to itstelf. I just found out that my friend’s D is short a science course for graduation, and needs to take any science course anywhere, submit it, to get a degree. So this sort of thing happens more often than one would think.</p>
<p>Yeah, maybe he failed a course.</p>