I’m trying to finish up my program at a uninversity (in England if it makes a difference) and I’m getting tripped up by this time in residence. I’m not talking about being a resident for the purposes of fees etc. but this whole issue of “You must have a minimum of 2 years in residence and a maximum of 5 to complete the program” or “You must spend one year in residence” of a 3 year program.
The problem is that the University screwed up my account and placed me on the inactive list for non-payment so I couldn’t complete my progam (or should I say programme) as per the registrar’s directive. Since this screwed up my student loan, I had to wait until I could pay off the back tuition. It is now 6 years since I started the program but they do not want to take me back since I’m passed the 4 year max mark.
HOWEVER, the paperwork says max time is 5 years IN RESIDENCE.
If “in residence” refers to registered with the school, I only used 2.
If “in residence” refers to enrolled in the program, I only used 4 since they disenrolled me when they changed the max to 4 years.
If “in residence” means time from when you started regardless of status, I’m screwed unless someone with compassion says yes (my current strategy).
Bear in mind, I’m appealing the issue with them that the clock should not have been running since the registrar told the school to not work with me after the first 2 years (I can document this) and that the reason all this started was with their screw up (again I can document) but since they are on annual leave, my emails are hit and miss until the end of August. I just want to know if they still refuse my appeal and go by the letter of the rules, if I have an out by pointing out the 5 years in residency rule and can get 1 (or 3) more years to finish.
Um… this is going to be a difficult issue to resolve. Every university–even within one country, and even within one state–is so different with how they handle these things, that unless you are very specific about who you are dealing with, and that unless your answers come from someone with very specific knowledge about the university you are dealing with… you are basically fucked.
Now, that said…
I’m a faculty/administrator type, and my wife is a Registrar at a largeish university, and this is the third University at which I’ve worked, and I can tell you this much:
There’s probably a form for your problem. It will probably have some of the following words in it: Exception University Policy Waiver.
Who knows about this form, where to find it, and how to fill it out? That’s hard to say. Your program advisor and deparment chair should know, but it’s just as likely that they don’t. But someone at the college level definitely does… ask around and find them.
Whatever form you fill out, and whatever you have to do to get this fixed, will probably go before a committee to decide whether or not to give you a waiver (or whatever they’re calling it). It’s also very likely that this committee is merely advisory to an approving authority who has a title of “Assistant/Associate Vice President” or similar. Don’t just fill out your form–make your case. Make it so airtight that even if the committee remains unconvinced, the approving authority will have to comply.
“In residence” always refers to the time that you are actually “at” the University… however they define that!
For instance, and for most: spend two years living on campus, and two years living off campus but attending classes on campus? Four years “in residence”.
Three years “on campus”, and then you go away and work on your thesis from afar for two years? Three years “in residence”.
For my Ph.D., I took classes and accepted funding for two years, and then spent the next three years working, finishing up, and taking thesis hours. They counted that as two years of residence, or one more than was required for the degree.
My current U. has no real residency requirement as long as 30 or so of your hours were taken “in residence”… which means “here”. You can take 30, go somewhere else for your next 100, or vice versa. Or take 50 elsewhere, 30 here, and then 50 elsewhere again. For my BA, however, it was required that at least my last 30 hours were acquired “in residence”–so I could have transferred in 129, but still needed to take an additional 30 there. In other words, this is something that every University will define precisely for itself, which makes giving you specific advice fairly difficult.
(Note again: I’m using 130 hours as an example. Some universities may require only 120, some many more. This really is a University-specific problem.)
I agree that they’ll have it defined, but if your situation is not a common one, it may come down to someone’s interpretation. Where I am familiar with, in residence would mean excluding semesters you are on leave. If you enrolled for year one, then took a medical leave for year 2, then enrolled for year 3, that would be 2 years in residence. Where interpretation may come in is whether those financial issue semesters are counted as on leave. But again your kilometrage may vary.
Thank you . I agree the situation is unusual especially given that the program is being cancelled thus they cannot just re-enroll me BUT I only have to turn in two papers including my dissertation.
I feel that I have a very good technical appeal but like most things in life, I’m afraid it will all boil down to interpretation. I emailed my grad advisor who started the program because I get the feeling (or maybe just hoping) that if he says sure, just turn in the paper and your dissertation, they’ll let me finish up. The frustrating part is with the 7 hour difference, there’s usually an overnight delay in getting responses. All it takes is one person to say yes.