Excused Absence for a Person Called to Required Military Service
HB 1630 of the 79th Texas Legislature (updated by SB 937 of the 87th Texas Legislature) requires Texas public colleges and universities to grant excused absences for students who are called to required military service for a brief duration of service and who do not choose to withdraw. Required military service is defined as service in the armed forces of the United States, the National Guard, or the Texas State Guard including travel associated with the service. The maximum period for which a student may be excused can be no more than 25 percent of the total number of class meetings, excluding the final examination, for the specific course or courses that the student is currently enrolled at the beginning of the period of required military service. For students who enroll in distance learning courses or other asynchronous courses, a student may be excused for a period of time not to exceed 25 percent of the length of the course. Students who are called to required military service for a brief duration of service are required to provide to the CTC Associate Dean, Admissions, Registration and Records office an original copy or notarized copy of their orders, which indicates that they have been called to required duty. Students are responsible for contacting each of their instructors prior to leaving for required duty so that they can discuss which assignments and/or exams need to be completed once they return and a reasonable time for completion. Students will be given a withdrawal grade of WT (Withdrawal Temporary).
Upon returning from required duty, students must contact their instructor(s) and arrange for completing the remaining course requirements. Each faculty member has the right to issue a final grade based on coursework completed should students fail to satisfactorily complete the assignment(s) and/or examination(s) within the reasonable time designated by the instructor. Students who wish to dispute the institutional process regarding this policy will follow the informal grievance procedures outlined in the CTC Student Handbook. If the informal procedures do not resolve the grievance, then such students will follow the formal grievance procedures included in the CTC Student Handbook.