Attorney Perspective: What to do if your child is academically dismissed
By: Patrick Hoover
Patrick Hoover is the principal attorney of HooverLaw, LLC.
Your kid did well in high school, made it into a good college and just about the time you begin to see the end of the twice yearly tuition drain you get word the university is kicking him out.
Academic Dismissal, Honor Code Violations, Plagiarism, Student on Student Assault or Harassment, Tuition Residency Issues, Curriculum Completion Requirements; these and a universe of other reasons can bring a family and college student to a place no parent ever hopes to go. In such instances it is imperative the student immediately obtain the services of qualified and skilled professionals capable of halting the rush to judgment by the college and bring badly needed order and analysis to bear on the student’s college career. Often times, colleges will trample student rights in a rush to judgment. Here too a student advocate can prove quite helpful in saving a young person’s college education.
Whether or not your college student was provided special accommodations while in high school as a result of a learning disability, ADHD, ED, ASD or some other handicap, it is important for the student to provide formal notice to the college administration of his/her disability and need for accommodations. Failure to give the college or university formal notice of the student’s disability and the supporting detail necessary to receive necessary academic accommodation, leaves the student with little or no protections in terms of grades.
Dismissal or “flunking out”, which might have been avoided with appropriate modification and help for the challenged college student, is an all too common occurrence; one that might have been avoided with the proper planning and knowledge put in place ahead of time and before its too late. A critical question is raised as to whether or not the college is aware something is going on with the student but refuses to acknowledge the “something” amounted to notice under the federal laws at play which were intended to protect students in higher education.
ADA and 504 are two of the federal laws that professionals who regularly advocate for such young adults will always utilize on behalf of disabled students. A careful review of the school’s own published documentation can also be a great help when analyzed by the independent student advocate. Education lawyers for the student can often quickly open a dialogue with the school’s general counsel; thereby removing the conversation from the faculty/student level onto a higher plane. This alone can prove quite vaulable when it comes to saving a student’s college career.
