Late Assignment Policy

Guidelines for Late Assignment Submissions

Students are expected to submit all assignments by the designated due dates within each class. The University understands that situations can arise that may require additional time to complete your work. In these instances, it is critical that you reach out to your instructor immediately to let him or her know the situation and to request additional time. The following information includes instructions on how late assignments and discussions are handled for both documented and undocumented circumstances. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to your instructor.

Documented & Undocumented Exceptional Circumstances

1. A documented exceptional circumstance may include, but is not limited to:

   • A student's long-term (4 days or more) illness and/or hospitalization

   • Natural disasters (particularly those that lead to the loss of power/internet connection at the time of the assignment deadline)
   • Military deployment
   • Hospitalization and/or death of an immediate family member
2. An undocumented exceptional circumstance may include, but is not limited to:
   • Short-term (3 days or less) illness of the student or student's child
   • Unexpected circumstances related to a student's employment
   • Unexpected child or elder care          
     
     
     
            

Treatment of Late Assignments Due to Exceptional Circumstances

1. Late Assignment with Documented Exceptional Circumstance
   • A student may submit work after the due date and receive credit for the assignment if the student provides the documentation supporting the exceptional circumstance directly to the class professor.
   • Students with documentable exceptional circumstances provided to the class professor will not receive a deduction of points for work submitted during the exceptional circumstance timeframe agreed upon between the professor and student.
   • Students who provide documentation of extenuating circumstances are allowed to make up all assignments, including discussion posts during the agreed upon time period for the documented exceptional circumstance.          

Late Assignment without Documented Exceptional Circumstance

A student may submit work after the due date and may receive partial credit for the assignment if the student contacts his or her professor as soon as it is known that the assignment may be late.

Grading for Late Assignments without Documented Exceptional Circumstances

Students who submit work after the assigned due date without exceptional circumstances can expect a reduction of points in the following manner:

• Assignments submitted within 7 days after the submission deadline will receive up to a 20% deduction.  The actual deduction will be determined by the professor, but cannot exceed 20%.
• Assignments submitted between 8 and 14 days after the submission date will receive up to 50% deduction.  The actual deduction will be determined by the professor, but cannot exceed 50%.
• Assignments submitted beyond 14 days from the due date are not acceptable and the student cannot receive credit for the assignment.
• Please note assignments due during the last week of the term cannot be accepted late.

All past due assignments must be submitted by the last Wednesday of the academic term.  Late assignments submitted after the 1st Wednesday of the academic term must receive a grade of zero (0), i.e., no credit awarded. Discussion boards, by definition, are not assignments that are easily made up.  Because students have access to course discussions three weeks in advance, late participation is not accepted.  All students are required to make the final discussion post for the week by 9:00 a.m. on Monday of the following week (i.e., final post for week 1 will be due no later than 9:00 a.m. on Monday of week 2).

For NUR Courses, please see the information below:

Discussion boards are completed over a two-week timeframe during most modules in the majority of courses.

• In the first week of a two week module, students must make their original discussion board post no later than 11:59 p.m. EST on Sunday night.
• In the second week of each module, all reply post must be made by 11:59 p.m. EST on Sunday night.
• For modules that spance one week and include a discussion board forum, initial posts must be made by 11:59 p.m. EST on Friday and reply posts made by 11:59 p.m. on Sunday of that week.
• It is possible that the discussion forum might by the only assignment submission that week; therefore, it is imperative that the post is submitted by 11:59 p.m. EST to prevent the student from being inaccurately counted as absent for that week.
• Students who have documented exceptional circumstances (as defined above) must notify the course professor and may make their original discussion post and all reply posts during the second week of the module, no later than 11:59 p.m. EST on Sunday night.  Late posts beyond the Sunday night of the second week of each module are not accepted.

Procedures:

The following procedures apply to both documented and undocumented late submissions.

Student Responsibilities

Contacting the Professor:

•When a student misses a class (or is unable to sign in to an online class) due to illness or other exceptional circumstance, the student must contact the professor and/or his or her Campus Dean/Dean of Advising as soon as possible. When the Campus Dean/Dean of Advising is contacted, the information will be relayed to the professor.

•If the student is unable to contact the professor and/or his or her Campus Dean/Dean of Advising, a family member or friend of the student may inform the professor or Campus Dean/Dean of Advising of the student’s illness or other exceptional circumstance. When the local campus is contacted, the information will be relayed to the professor.

•If the student becomes ill while on campus, the student may be asked by the professor or Campus Dean/Dean of Advising to go home (please refer to the General Welfare, Safety and Security Policy in the Student Handbook).