Graduate students may file a petition requesting a waiver of an academic policy or requirement.

Petition Forms

Some of our policies have specific petition forms to:

• Remove an incomplete
• Transfer graduate credit into a master's program
• Take a graduate course as an undergraduate
• Extend the 7-year deadline
• Request on-leave status (Log in to GradWeb)
• Request permission to include co-authored or previously published material in the thesis/dissertation
• Petition for reinstatement after a break in enrollment

To petition for a waiver of any other policies, the student should use the general petition to the Division of Graduate Studies form.

Petition Requirements

On the petition the student must state the exception being requested and a detailed explanation for why the student is seeking the exception.

The petition must also have supporting statements from the student's adviser and head of the academic department.

Petition Review

Once the petition has been reviewed by the student's academic department, the petition is then submitted to the Division of Graduate Studies for review.

The Division of Graduate Studies reviews the exception being requested within the context of the educational purpose that the regulation in question was developed to serve.

Petitions are seldom granted if the only reason given is to save the student from inconvenience or expense.