2.11 Petition for Extenuating Circumstances-petition for tuition adjustment

An enrolled student who withdraws from a course(s) is responsible for paying the entire amount of the course’s tuition and fees.  While this aforementioned contract is binding, NJC recognizes that there are extenuating circumstances that may contribute to the student’s withdrawal action that merit consideration. 

A student who has extenuating circumstances which cause them to withdraw from a course(s) will have an opportunity to petition for an institutional grant to assist with their tuition/fees for the following semester.  In these cases, NJC offers the student the right to petition for a grant to partially offset the contracted costs through a future tuition supplement.

1. The Vice President of Student Services will be the college official that has responsibility for disbursement of the petition upon request.  This official will visit with the student to identify if their situation would possibly be supported through the petition process. 

2. To be eligible for consideration the student would have to meet the following criteria:

• Meet a narrow definition of acceptable extenuating circumstances: serious illness, injury or death of an immediate family member or serious personal injury or illness.
• Petitions must be submitted by the last full-term class day of the semester during which the extenuating circumstance occurred.

3. Completed petitions with attached supporting documentation must be submitted back to the Vice President of Student Services by the last day of the class and/or the last day of the semester.

4. A review board will meet at the end of each semester to review petitions that have been submitted by the last day of the semester, during which withdraw(s) occurred. 

5. A set amount of institutional grant money available to award each semester has been determined. Since the grant funding is limited, petitions would be reviewed on a case by case basis. 

6. The review board will consist of one student services representative, one student accounts representative, one records office representative, and one financial aid office representative.

7. The review board will determine whether or not to award a grant during the next 3 academic terms (a year’s time). The dollar amount for the grant will be determined based on the number of days complete, financial aid, the extenuating circumstance, and the amount of funding available.

Final decisions will be reviewed and signed by the Vice President of Student Services.