Self-Declaration Policy for Students

Examples of non-valid reasons

• Attending a personal or family event (e.g., vacation, wedding)
• Optional travel
• Technological difficulties
• Competitions or events, related to personal interests (choir, acting, pageants, exhibitions)
• Employment-related commitments

Examples of valid reasons

• Sudden illness or injury on the day of an exam
• Unexpected compassionate circumstances
• Known conflicts of religious observance
• Bereavement or loss of a loved one
• Participation in an inter-university, provincial, inter-provincial, national or international scholastic or athletic event

Please be aware that students are obligated to be available for the duration of the examination period (if they have final exams scheduled). Students should not plan travel during this time as it is not a valid reason to defer a final exam.

Be sure to check with an advisor in your home faculty (or your faculty’s website) to confirm which events and other reasons may be supported by the Self-Declaration form. There are some circumstances in which documentation may be required by your faculty. If you are experiencing anxiety around your academic obligations, please use the student supports resources available to you, such as:

• Academic Learning Centre for study skills, exam preparation, writing workshops
• Student Counselling Centre (or other Student Supports to manage stress and anxiety)
• Student Accessibility Services if related to an ongoing or chronic health condition

• The Self-Declaration policy is intended to be for occasional, short-term circumstances lasting 120 hours or less.
• This means that students should not be submitting multiple forms for each course. If you are in a situation where you may need to submit multiple Self-Declaration forms (for example, if you have recurring or ongoing circumstances, we encourage you to speak to an advisor in your faculty to consider other academic options that may be more suitable to your situation.
  • Although it may seem helpful to have extensions on assignments and deferred tests and exams, the deadlines can pile up and interfere with other deadlines, work and courses. We encourage you to seek advice from an advisor and seriously consider whether requesting extensions and deferrals is your best option.
• Other options that may be more suitable to your situation include:
  • Authorized Withdrawal
  • Accommodations with Student Accessibility Services
    • Student Accessibility Services (SAS) provides supports for students with disabilities. If you have a chronic or permanent medical condition, please contact SAS to discuss options for long-term supports
  • Leave of absence
    • Check whether this is an option for your program

• For course work in a class, submit the completed form to your instructor
• If this is for a lab assignment, submit the completed form to your Lab TA (your TA may ask you to send your form to your instructor)
• For final exams, submit your completed form to an academic advisor in your faculty of registration

If your self-declaration form has not been approved by your instructor, it could be for one of these reasons:

• It was not submitted within the time frame noted in the policy (48 hours after the missed work)
• The time period of absence was more than 120 hours/5 days
• The reason for the absence does not fall into a category for an approved absence

In this case, you should be prepared to complete your academic work, or speak to an advisor in your faculty if you have an absence longer than 5 days, to discuss other options that may be more applicable to your situation.

If you have concerns about the reasons why your request was not approved, you can contact

• Department Head offering the course
  • If your faculty has no departments, contact the Dean's office for your faculty
• The Student Advocacy office
• Your academic advisor (use the find my advisor tool to connect to your advisor)

If you are requesting a Deferred Final exam from your faculty, there are some situations in which they may not accept a Self Declaration form (such as multiple requests for deferred exams), and instead, advise that documentation is required. In this case, please speak to an academic advisor in your faculty of registration for more information.

• If you will be absent for more than 120 hours (5 days)
• Authorized Withdrawal
• Accommodation for a disability
• Incomplete status in a course (time extension)
• Leave of Absence
• If requested by my faculty after having submitted multiple Self-Declaration forms