[Ones44]

I was literally physically ill with stress and anxiety and now this. I am screwed.
I managed to get into the college of my dreams to find that this dream is more of a nightmare. Everything in my life has gone wrong.

It turns out that they have instituted a new attendance policy this year which they decided to not inform me about until freshman orientation(it was in the orientation packet somewhere, but they didn't really mention it during orientation). Essentially, the idea is that if I miss six classes or so in a semester, I am withdrawn from that class. It doesn't matter the reason, all absences are unexcused. The school got my schedule wrong which lead me to miss a few classes. I had 2 absences because I had to go to traffic court in another state (the charges were cleared thankfully). And I missed the final one because I had a string of cluster headaches that lasted throughout the night before class and left me to collapse in exhaustion on my bed and so I slept through that final class.
The punishment for these absences is to be withdrawn from the class. Unfortunately, this scenario applied to multiple classes which means that I am facing expulsion.
To make matters worse, they send snailmail to my parents informing them that I am facing expulsion and that I need to arrange a meeting with the Dean. They don't send me anything on the subject! I learned about it through my parents! My relationship with my parents is terrible already! Now they are angry with me for wasting their money(they didn't really pay for much of it)!
So I have been going to classes that I have been withdrawn from for nearly 2 weeks!
Tomorrow is the deadline for talking to the Dean! I was barely able to arrange a meeting for tomorrow at 9 AM. I only found out about it yesterday evening!
I don't know what to do... I just want to crawl into a corner and sleep.
I can't handle this.

[Travelinglady]

Oh, my, Ones44. I am so sorry this policy has led to possible expulsion. I hope your meeting with the dean will go well. Your school is not the only one that has instituted strict attendance requirements.

However, it sure sounds like your school does a poor job of informing students about things. How did they try to do it? Snail mail or e-mail?

The schools my sons go to seem to keep us parents out of the loop, since my sons are over 18. But I can see the school contacting parents in a case like this one. Too bad your parents aren't understanding.

Hang in here. And please keep us informed.

[Ones44]

Nearly 4 AM now... I can't sleep. Too nervous.
I looked online for advice...
If this were a public university, I could get an attorney to represent me and I could appeal the school's decision all the way up to the supreme court.
But I am at a private college, so whatever the school says goes. So basically tomorrow is my last appeal and I don't get representation.
The only other chance I have is that if I lose this appeal I can try to find some grounds to due a lawsuit against the school... and even if I do have reasonable grounds for a lawsuit and good evidence to back me up... it would be way too expensive and the chances would be very slim.

umm... my parents via contacted via snailmail. I don't know if they tried to contact me. The student handbook says that I should have gotten a letter dropped into my mailbox, so not an email.

[gayleggg]

Good luck, too, you. I hope you can work things out.

[Ones44]

I made a deal with the Dean.
This will be my last semester here. I will be withdrawn from my language class. I will be able to continue to finish my other classes and get my credits from them. Looks like I'm headed to community college...
At least I won't be marked as an undesirable before every college in the country. It could be a lot worse.

[gayleggg]

Glad it worked out for you so you didn't lose everything. Better luck at the community college.

[Perna]

The first couple absences caused by the school messing up your schedule were not "missed" by you, but I can see how you probably can't maintain continuity in a language class. Glad you learned your school was not what you wanted and didn't just stick around blaming not liking it on yourself? Hope you do well in community college for a semester or three and then transfer to a better 4-year school.

[Ones44]

Thanks. I'll probably do 4 semesters of community college because then I will be automatically accepted into any university in the state.