A Medical Hardship/Compassionate Withdrawal (MH/C), when granted, allows you to receive financial reimbursem*nt (as applicable) and a grade change (as applicable) for courses interrupted by an unexpected serious illness/injury or a significant personal situation. The illness, injury, or situation must have prevented you from meeting the academic and social demands of your course(s) in one particular term for more than two weeks. The situation must have begun or unexpectedly worsened during the requested term.
- Multiple terms cannot be requested.
- You may not qualify if a passing grade is assigned to the course(s).
- The illness or injury cannot have lasted less than 2 weeks.
Medical Hardship Withdrawal
A Medical Hardship Withdrawal (MHW) may be considered when unexpected, serious physical or mental illness or injury, beyond your control, prevents you from continuing to meet the academic and social demands of your course(s) in one particular term for more than two weeks. The situation must have begun or unexpectedly worsened during the requested term.
Examples:
- Severe injury or illness with prolonged recovery and/or ongoing close medical monitoring
- Severe complications of a chronic medical condition
- New diagnosis of a life threatening condition
- Non-elective surgery with prolonged recovery
- Severe complications related to a pregnancy
- Infectious disease requiring specific isolation
Compassionate Withdrawal
A Compassionate Withdrawal (CW) may be considered when a new, unexpected, extraordinary personal situation, not related to your own physical or mental health, prevents you from continuing to meet the academic and social demands of your course(s) in one particular term for more than two weeks. The situation must have begun or unexpectedly worsened during the requested term.
Examples:
- Death of a family member
- Natural disaster including house fire
- Becoming the primary care giver for a family member with a serious health condition
- Being a victim of a serious crime: assault, domestic violence, etc.
Contact your Student Coach to initiate a Medical Hardship or Compassionate Withdrawal.
Medical Hardship & Compassionate Withdrawal FAQs
Click a question below to see the answer.
You will need to select one type of withdrawal to pursue. It is recommended that you pursue whichever option would be easiest to provide documentation. You can provide details of the additional issue(s) in your personal statement if you wish.
Sufficient documentation should provide evidence of your claims. All requests require some form of corroborating documentation. In some cases, more than one type of documentation may be required. The Accommodations Resource Center will not reach out to documentation providers for clarification or additional information. It is your responsibility to collect and provide additional documentation. Any letter from a medical provider must be submitted directly to the Accommodations Center office, with no evidence of tampering.
Examples:
- credible documentation on official letterhead from a licensed medical professional that meets the criteria outlined in the policy
- Police reports, legal documents such as a restraining order
- Airline tickets and/or travel receipts
- News articles, evacuation orders, insurance claims
- Obituary or death certificate — must include proof of relation
- Healthcare Power of Attorney, letter from a licensed physician, treating medical provider, social or hospice worker
The name, course number, term, and credit hour information can be found in BRUIN under "Course History".
This date is the last date you logged-in to Blackboard or attended in-class. If you are unsure of the date, you can give your best estimate. If you attended classes through the last day, list the last date of class.
Your personal statement explains, in your own words, why/how you were unable to complete your courses. Keep in mind that the Accommodations Resource Center is not privy to conversations you have had with your student coach or instructors. Assume that the Accommodations Resource Center has no background information and explain your situation thoroughly.
Be assured that any information provided to the Accommodations Resource Center remains in the Center. Information regarding the details of the request is not shared with other departments and kept separate from the student’s academic file. Documents faxed to the Accommodations Center are received electronically through the office email and are not viewed by anyone outside of the office. The only time your information would be shared with someone outside the office is in the event of an appeal of a denial or legal/court order.
The Accommodations Center is considerate of personal preferences and cultural norms that may make you uncomfortable disclosing certain information. Therefore, redacted or generalized documentation will be accepted; however, the documentation must still contain sufficient information to support your request. For example, documentation may state that an unexpected surgery/procedure/illness occurred, without naming the surgery/procedure or diagnosis, but still include symptoms, dates, and recovery details, etc.
You can expect to receive written notification within three weeks of completing your submission. Any approved adjustments may take up to one additional week for further processing.
**You are encouraged to take the needed time off before returning to your courses, as a second MH/C withdrawal will not be granted within any 12-month period.
