Relevant George Mason
Official University Policies



The following policies apply to all courses at George Mason University:
  1. You are responsible for the accuracy of your own schedule. Check Patriot Web regularly to verify that you are registered for the classes that you think you are. A student who is not registered may not continue to attend class. Faculty are not permitted to grade work of students who do not appear on the official class roster.
  2. You are responsible for knowing the last days to drop and add this class.
  3. Once the add and drop deadlines have passed, instructors do not have the authority to approve any requests from students to add or drop/withdraw late. It is NOT permissible to drop the class and leave it at that. It needs approval. Late adds (up until the last day of classes) must be reviewed and approved by the department chair of the course being offered. They will be approved only in the case of a documented university error (such as a problem with Financial Aid being processed). All student requests for withdrawals and retroactive adds (after the last day of classes) must be reviewed by the student's academic dean. In the case of students whose major is in COS, this is the office of Undergraduate Academic Affairs in Enterprise.
  4. Instructors are required to give the final exam at the time and place published in the Schedule of Classes, as set by the Registrar. It cannot change be changed. You need to plan vacation (make plane reservations, etc.) around these published dates.
  5. Once final grades have been recorded, instructors cannot accept any work to change that course grade. Grade changes can only be approved when they are due to a calculation or recording error on the part of the instructor.
  6. An IN (incomplete) grade is a very special grade that can only be applied for in writing. It can only be given in cases in which a student is passing a course and has a very limited amount of work left to complete the course.
  7. Federal law (a law known as FERPA) requires the protection of privacy of student information. Therefore, no instructor on campus can speak about a student's record with anyone other than the student. The record includes how a student is doing in a course, whether a student has attended class, information about grades, whether a paper has been turned in. Anything. This prohibition includes parents, siblings, and spouses, anyone.