Medical Petitions

Navigating The Unexpected

What does this enable me to do?

  • Campus Assistance and Resources for Empowerment (CARE) staff help you understand which petition type suits your experience and offer guidance to navigate the petition submission process.

  • There are two categories of Medical Petitions: By Deadline and Retroactive. Within both categories, students can opt to submit a petition to Withdraw from all classes in the given semester or Drop one or more (but not all) classes in a given semester.

  • Review Medical Petition Types and Steps information or the User Guides before starting our petition process.

Unfortunately, there may be times in a student’s academic career when unexpected situations arise that interfere with the student’s ability to be academically successful in a given semester. Such situations include, but are not limited to, physical health issues, mental health issues, family/personal crises, or an experienced loss. In such situations, students may wish to consider petitioning for a medical withdrawal.

Please note a few updates to the Medical Petition Process as of February 1, 2022:

  • For students who have not yet completed their academic program, Medical Petitions for tuition and fee consideration must be submitted within 6 months of the last day of the semester they are petitioning.
  • For students who have not yet completed their academic program, Medical Petitions for academic consideration must be submitted within 5 years of the last day of the semester they are petitioning. The last day of the semester is defined as follows:
    • For fall and spring semesters: the last day of final exams as published in the official academic calendar.
    • For the summer semester: the last day of classes in the final summer session (not the end of individual sessions).
  • Students who have applied for graduation should be aware that submitting a Medical Petition may delay degree completion.