9
Waivers, Extensions and Grievances
Students may appeal to the Graduate Program Committee to have a core course requirement
waived or substituted. The student must be able to document that they have previously taken and are
knowledgeable in the subjects contained in the course under appeal. Appeals of first semester courses
must be made, in writing, within two weeks of the student entering the graduate program.
Graduate program policies, course requirements, exam deadlines, and other program
requirements are subject to well-justified request for waivers/exemptions submitted beforehand, and to
appeals submitted after a decision has been made. If a student is completing laboratory rotations and
therefore does not yet have a major professor, the student may submit written requests for waivers,
extensions, or appeals to the Graduate Program Committee. After a major professor and advisory
committee has been identified, waiver requests initiated by either the student or the major professor
should be discussed first by the advisory committee, and – if approved by the advisory committee – the
request should be forwarded to the Graduate Program Committee by the major professor.
University of Georgia students have the right to appeal academic decisions. An appeal must be
made within 30 days after the student receives the grade or ruling in dispute. Usually the appeal goes first
to the unit responsible for the decision. For example, grades or departmental graduate program policies
are appealed to the department; graduate school policies are appealed to the Graduate School; University
policies to the Educational Affairs Committee. An unfavorable ruling at one level is appealed to successive
levels. For example, a department ruling can be appealed to the college in which the institutional unit is
located; a collage ruling can be appealed to the University Council Educational Affairs Committee; the
Educational Affairs Committee ruling can be appealed to the President of the University; and the
President’s ruling can be appealed to the Board of Regents.
Academic Performance and Dismissal
If more than one committee member or the major professor gives the student an “Unsatisfactory”
evaluation, the student and major professor must develop a remediation plan to improve performance.
For example, the remediation plan may include additional coursework, a more structured schedule in lab,
and/or more frequent committee meetings.
University of Georgia graduate students must maintain an average of 3.0 or higher on all graduate
courses taken. Grades below 3.0 are not acceptable for courses on the Program of Study, which includes
all required core courses. In the first semester that the cumulative GPA falls below 3.0, students are placed
on academic warning by the University of Georgia Graduate School and are required to meet with their
major professor to develop a plan to improve their academic performance. If the cumulative GPA is below
3.0 for a second consecutive semester, the student is placed on academic probation and cannot receive
an assistantship stipend. If the student receives a GPA below 3.0 in any semester while on probation, they
are dismissed by the UGA Graduate School.
https://grad.uga.edu/index.php/current-students/policies-procedures/academics/probation-and-
dismissal/
PBS graduate students may be dismissed from the program at the end of any semester if they
have not made sufficient academic progress to warrant continuation of study, have not met their
responsibilities, have not met their admittance stipulations, or have not maintained accepted standards