Attendance Accommodations
Student Disability Resources engages in an interactive process with each student and reviews requests for accommodations on an individualized, case-by-case basis. Students must provide appropriate documentation that supports the use of any accommodation.
Attendance policies
Class instruction is important and beneficial to student learning and therefore, class attendance is important for the benefit of students. A student should attend every class for which they are scheduled and should be held responsible for all work covered in the courses taken.
Irregular attendance may cause a student to become deficient scholastically, at the judgment of the instructor, and as such, may cause the student to receive a lower or failing grade for the course.
Instructors are encouraged to provide, within reason, opportunities for students to make up work that was missed for legitimate, unavoidable reasons, such as:
- illness
- injury
- family emergency
For additional details, please see:
- Penn State Policy E-11: Class Attendance and Evaluation of Student Performance
- Faculty Senate Policy 42-27: Class Attendance
Flexibility Accommodation
Qualified students can receive flexible attendance accommodations that will allow them to potentially miss additional classes and/or have additional time to make up work beyond what is allowed in the syllabus when their absence is the result of a disability flair up.
This accommodation is the result of a discussion between the student and their disability specialist in consultation with the course instructor(s) to ensure that the essential course requirements are not compromised by the accommodation.
Student Crisis or Emergencies
If a student at the University Park campus is experiencing an illness or crisis that results in the inability to attend class; the Student Care and Advocacy office exists to provide student and family support during times of crisis and emergency, in addition to other support in helping students achieve success at Penn State.
Some services provided include:
- Contacting a student's faculty to notify them of emergency-related class absences
- Advocating for students when their academics have been interrupted due to personal crisis
- Offer referrals to appropriate campus and community organizations for support and intervention