<p>If this was being asked at the beginning of the next semester, I could see the administration doing something for her. But unless there has been effort to resolve this from shortly after it happened, and simply no resolution, I would be inclined to suggest moving on.</p>
<p>The professor usually has class policies spelled out in the sylabus. The school has its own policies, which may trump the class policies, too. There may in fact be extenuating circumstances, but then you need to contact the administration as soon as possible to see if there is an appeal process. If she took the class over, she should have spoken at least with her advisor to see how they would treat that retake. I had a similar situation when I was a student, and the school actually changed the policy while I was there. Because I had already taken the “replacement” class when the policy was changed, it was governed by the old policy, and both grades factored into my GPA. Had I waited, only the second grade would have counted. (Had I known the poicy was going to change, I would have waited). It is the student’s responsibility to be aware of the policies, and to ask questions if they don’t understand them.</p>
<p>Colleges publish catalog policies about these issues to which they adhere. The options are constrained by what’s in the catalog. This student should read her institution’s catalog to see what her options are. </p>
<p>It’s unusual for a student to retake a class at the same institution (not a CC or another college over the summer) and not have the second grade replace the first or be averaged. That’s why I asked whether the student re-took the class at the original institution.</p>
<p>Many college catalogs stipulate that grades can only be changed up to a year (two semesters) after the original grade was given; after that, there is no recourse. Changes of grades must go through various levels of approval (prof, chair, dean) and sometimes go through an academic standards committee. The professors can’t just change the grades after the reporting deadline on their own; neither can one administrator.</p>
Perhaps you have not done this for a living, compmom. I have bent over backwards for students, but they have to be making it as much of a priority as I am. I would, in fact, be perfectly willing to GO to a hospital and proctor an exam if that were an option. OTOH, if the matter is “comparatively trivial” then they shouldn’t care about whether or not they can make up an exam or pass a course. And if they don’t care, you cannot expect the faculty to care. </p>
<p>Do you think that once this student (mine, not OP’s) has a job that if she disappears for 2-1/2 weeks without a word that she will have a job when she finally shows up? Her bosses hardened a little too much from years of trying to keep a business afloat?</p>
<p>A year is an awfully long time to wait to be wondering how to deal with this. Most schools do have policies in place to deal with illness or family emergencies. But you would generally have to deal with them at or near to the time and, at my school, with each professor. I’m a non traditional student (old), and when my husband was diagnosed with a difficult to treat cancer last fall I had to miss all my finals as we were several hundred miles from home at M D Anderson at the time. I had to contact each prof. at the time to find out how they would handle it. I was given “incomplete” grades which were recorded on the transcript with the points I had earned up to that point in time. I had a year to come back and complete the required work, after which the grade assigned at the time of the incomplete becomes permanent per school policy (for instance if I had already earned 780 out of a possible 1000, the incomplete on the transcript would have been a “iC” which would automatically become a “C” if I did not complete the work within a year, or could be improved by completing the work). If I had not contacted the professors, the points I had earned at that point would have automatically become my permanent grade. </p>
<p>Each school will have a different policy, but I would think most would expect the issues to be handled in a timely matter. Waiting a year to address the issue is probably a bit too late.</p>