Academic Appeals Policy

Grade Appeal Process

Rationale for Grade Appeal

A student must document a reason for requesting the change of a final course grade.

Grade Appeal Advocate

A student can utilize the aid of an advocate to help him or her through the grade appeal process. A grade appeal advocate may be anyone, including any OCC faculty, staff member, or student, who is familiar with the grade appeal process. The grade appeal advocate may attend any meeting that includes the student and may advise the student but may not speak for the student in accordance with Title IX guidelines (i.e., the student must present his or her own case but can receive guidance and support from the advocate).  Students have the right to an advocate as they traverse the grade appeal process.  This advocate may include any family member, or OCC community member, who can make themselves available to be present during grade appeal proceedings.

Summary of the Grade Appeal Process

The grade appeal now takes place through the Student Academic Grade Appeal Form in Softdocs. The form routes electronically to each reviewer. Students receive automatic email notifications at every step.

1. The student submits the Academic Concern/Grade Appeal Form.
2. The instructor reviews the appeal and responds with an approval or denial.
3. If the student decides to continue, the form routes to the Department Chair.
4. If the student continues again, the form routes to the Academic Dean for the final decision.

Details of the Grade Appeal Process

Academic Amnesty

The Academic Amnesty Program is designed for those students whose GPA from a prior period is significantly lower than the GPA of work completed in more recent semesters.

Amnesty is applied to a maximum of 24 semester hours of courses that have grade values below 2.00. No grades will be removed from the academic record. The courses accepted for amnesty will be annotated “AMNESTY GIVEN” on both the transcript and the academic record. These courses will no longer be considered in the GPA computation.

Credit is not earned for courses for which amnesty has been granted. Amnesty may be granted only one time and is not revocable. Amnesty cannot be awarded for any courses completed prior to the effective date of any Oakland Community College degree or certificate.  Courses eligible for amnesty must have been completed at least five years prior to the submission of a petition. Students are eligible to petition for amnesty when their 16 most recently earned OCC credits are from courses that each have a grade equivalent of 2.00 or higher. A course within a semester with an “I” or a grade lower than required negates all courses in that semester from consideration in the determination of eligibility. All courses used in determining eligibility shall have been taken since, not in, the most recent semester containing a course being petitioned for amnesty.

Once granted, amnesty excuses courses from GPA computation and academic record summation. In situations where the GPA or earned credits are a factor or condition of OCC program admission or status, the GPA and record summary resulting from the granting of amnesty shall be recognized without prejudice. Students interested in this program should contact their campus counseling center for more information and materials.

Eligibility for financial aid may require a GPA computation that ignores the effects of amnesty as provided herein.