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Student Appeals

Student Services Advocate (Ombudsman)

The Student Services Advocate is a central point of contact, located at the New Smyrna Beach/Edgewater Campus, Building 1, Room 131, who can offer informal and neutral assistance to resolve student concerns. For more information, please contact studentadvocate@daytonastate.edu.

The advocate can:

    • Listen to your concerns or suggestions;
    • Help Identify and evaluate options;
    • Guide you through the academic appeal process;
    • Assist with the formal complaint process;
    • Connect you to the appropriate person/campus resource;
    • Clarify Daytona State policies and procedures;
    • Provide feedback to administration and recommend changes when appropriate.

Submitting an Appeal

The appeals process provides students an opportunity to request an exception to a college policy or procedure due to documented extenuating circumstances. Unless the circumstance interferes with the deadline date, appeals must be submitted to the College by the established deadline. Prior to submitting an appeal, please read carefully and completely the information on the Appeal Forms page. The College will accept an appeal in rare documented situations involving the following:

  1.  Serious illness or personal injury with a letter from medical provider;
  2.  Unforeseen and unplanned medical emergency/natural disaster with a letter from medical provider/official written documentation;
  3.  Death of an immediate family member (parent/legal guardian, sibling, spouse/partner, or child) with an obituary/death certificate;
  4.  Documented non-voluntary military activation with written military orders;
  5.  Other extraordinary circumstance with official written documentation.

Special Notice: Issues involving the following circumstances will not be considered and ARE NOT valid situations for requesting an appeal:

  • Child care issues;
  • Transportation issues;
  • Employment changes;
  • Normal pregnancy;
  • Incarceration;
  • Disagreement with the instructor teaching method;
  • Difficulty learning the course material;
  • College disciplinary actions and judicial sanctions.

To submit an appeal, students must:

  1. Complete an appeal form in the Question & Answer Center, or complete an online form.
  2. Write a personal statement clearly explaining the circumstances surrounding the situation or incident that prevented you from completing the class or course(s).
  3. Attach relevant supporting documentation, such as letters from medical providers or from other third parties.
  4. For serious illness/injury, provide a letter(s) on official hospital letterhead signed by the attending physician explaining how your condition will prevent you from completing the course(s) you are attempting. The statement should also include the illness/injury and the services provided to the student, as well as related dates. The illness/injury must have occurred during the term for which the appeal is sought. Support letters MUST INCLUDE a physician's statement, if a medical issue, on letterhead explaining how your condition will prevent you from completing the course(s) you are attempting.
  5. For unforeseen emergency/natural disaster non-medical situations, you must provide a letter(s) (on official letterhead) signed by ordained clergy, attorneys, mental health professionals or other third-party professionals to document and explain how that circumstance prevented you from completing the course(s), as well as related dates. If you suffered an accident, an official report of occurrence, such as a police report, should be submitted.
  6. Due to student privacy protections, please do not submit personal medical records or other private confidential information.
  7. For death of an immediate family member, provide a copy of the obituary/death certificate naming the deceased and proof of the student’s relationship.

Appeals may be submitted for the following reasons:

  1. Academic Second Chance/Academic Amnesty;
  2. Administrative Drop;
  3. Catalog Year;
  4. College Academic Suspension;
  5. Equity Grievance;
  6. Financial Aid Suspension for Excessive Hours;
  7. Financial Aid Suspension for GPA and/or Completion Rate;
  8. Formal Complaint;
  9. Formal Grade Dispute;
  10. 4th (Final) Attempt;
  11. In-State Tuition for 3rd Attempt;
  12. Grade Change “F/FN” to “W;
  13. Late Withdrawal;
  14. Residency;
  15. Administrative Review;
  16. Other Complaints/Appeals

The appeal forms are available online with a link from the Registration and Records home page. All students, including those who are taking online classes only, must print the forms, and fax, email or deliver the information and supporting documents to the Question & Answer Center located on the Daytona Beach Campus (Bldg. 100, Rm. 119), or the Falcon Center on any campus. The fax number is 386-506-3037, or email to appeals@daytonastate.edu.

Important Notice: Each student applying for an appeal who is receiving a financial aid award must check with the Financial Aid Office Staff BEFORE submitting an appeal. This is necessary to be sure that the requested appeal will not cause unintended problems for your financial aid eligibility. Federal and state financial aid are governed by separate laws and rules regarding standards of progress and course completion. The actions requested by appeals may have an adverse impact on your financial aid award. Please be advised that even if your appeal is approved you may be required to pay back all or part of any financial aid that you received.

Appeals Decisions

All appeals will be reviewed and processed in the order they are received, provided:

  1. The appeal form is signed by the student and is complete;
  2. The appeal is submitted by the established deadline;
  3. A personal statement is submitted with the appeal form;
  4. All relevant supporting letters/documents are attached to the appeal form.

Appeal decisions will be made as quickly as possible. Review of an appeal by an Appeals Committee will not begin until it is fully complete. Lack of supporting letters will delay an appeal from being reviewed. Some appeal decisions will require contact and verification with multiple members of the college community and take longer to process.

All appeal decisions will be sent to the student's Daytona State FalconMail account only. Please activate and check your FalconMail account on a regular basis for official notification regarding the status of your appeal. For more information, visit the FalconMail information page.