<p>I haven't received all of my grades yet, but I have a sense of impending doom. I have a feeling that I will end up with a GPA of around 1.95, so I made this letter just in case. Does it look alright? In Word it's 1 page long.</p>
<p>?? Dec 2013</p>
<p>To the Academic Progress Appeal Committee:</p>
<p>I am writing to request an appeal on my financial aid for the spring of 2014. I have earned a 1.?? GPA for the fall 2013 semester due to hardships in my personal and educational life. While I am a student with at least a 3.1 GPA each semester, I found this particular semester unusually challenging due to many of my classes being in the upper division and my realization that I was not prepared enough to take some of the classes. I took an online introductory level class at Penn Valley Community College in summer 2013 on my own dime as I could not afford a summer class with UMKC, but the teacher was perpetually absent and the class was poorly conducted to the point of where I brought it up to the departments chair. I studied the subject independently upon completing the class with a grade of a B hoping to bring loose ends together, but the advanced classes I took in the fall at UMKC ended up being much different and difficult than I anticipated. I received a poor grade in both of them despite meeting with the teachers and teachers assistant several times during office hours for advice. </p>
<p>In addition, I began a temporary, full-time 3rd shift job with USPS on 16 November 2013 to supplement purchasing textbooks for spring 2014, and the stress from suddenly working when I am usually asleep impacted the amount of time allotted for studying for finals. I know now that I need to amend my study habits to accommodate situations like working into account, and that in itself has been a real eye-opener. I believe the experience will make me a better student as well as a better worker. As I anticipate graduating in spring 2014, it would be devastating to have to have my degree placed on hold, as student loans are the only way I have to pay for my education.</p>
<p>Thank you for taking the time to read and consider my appeal.</p>
<p>Sincerely,
XXXX</p>
I was initially in certain classes relevant to the BS of my degree. When I changed my major to the BA version, the classes became irrelevant and I was advised to drop them and take other classes to stay on track- the hours were interfering with each other. However, I learned later that the new classes were not relevant to my program either- they provided exceptions for people in my major not to take certain prerequisites. I dropped those as well so I could just have more time to work at a previous job I had, so I completed less than 66% of the attempted hours. I was also erroneously charged money for dropping the classes, and I successfully filed an appeal for that. In a way, it led me to taking the summer class in the first place…</p>