Consideration for Due Date Extensions

Students have the responsibility for completing all class work and are expected to meet all deadlines for assignments. Faculty have the right to establish late work policies. Under certain conditions, however, extended time to complete assignments and/or projects may be an appropriate accommodation.

This may be a reasonable accommodation for students who have a disability/diagnosis which can be unpredictable in nature and who sometimes experience disability exacerbations outside of their control. Students who are most likely to request deadline extensions are those with chronic health-related disabilities with acute symptoms that flare up episodically. This might include students with lupus or fibromyalgia, sickle cell anemia, seizure disorders, cancer, migraines, and conditions requiring dialysis. When the student experiences an exacerbation of the disability-related condition, the student may be unable to submit or complete an assignment. The student is to notify the instructor as soon as reasonably possible (on or before the due date) to make arrangements for the extension.

This accommodation does not provide unlimited time or extensions for all assignments.

This accommodation is not designed to address and fully support a student who misses numerous deadlines and course activities for medical or other reasons. In these situations, students and professors will often need to discuss if it is possible to adequately address missed work and to maintain course pace. OAS can be involved in these discussions as necessary per student or professor request. In some cases, reasonable adjustments may not be possible, and the student’s final grade may be impacted should the student choose to stay in the course. The student may also need to consider an incomplete or a course withdrawal.

There are some classes in which the due dates of assignments and/or projects cannot be adjusted for an individual student without resulting in fundamental changes to the course design. These tend to be classes that utilize group work or require ongoing discussion board discourse (posts, responses to discussion or readings), and failure to complete an assignment/project on time would compromise the educational experience of other students in the class. If the instructor believes the requested due date extension poses a difficulty in maintaining the credibility of the course, if submitting assignments late impacts the fundamental learning outcomes of the course or if a student's failure to submit work on time constitutes a significant loss to the educational experience of other students in the class, this will not be considered a reasonable accommodation.

Some students may register with the OAS late in the term or wait to give instructors notification of their accommodations. Instructors are not obligated to provide accommodations retroactively.

1. Student notifies the instructor of their approved accommodations through Accommodate.
2. The instructor receives email notification directing them to review the Accommodation Letter in Accommodate. If there are questions or concerns about an accommodation, the instructor should contact the Office of Accessibility Services as soon as possible. Student and instructor meet/communicate to discuss the applicability of this accommodation, reasonable extensions and the process by which the student should notify the instructor of the need for an extension on a particular assignment.
3. Student and instructor implement the plan they decided upon. They should check-in and update the plan as necessary.