When many college students begin college they often forget to do one simple thing. Read the University Policies. This may seem like a pointless thing to do and boring for that matter, but trust me it is also one of the most important things you can do.

The first reason you should do this is because you may find that you don't agree with the university policies set in place by that school. Chances are if you don't agree with the policies you are not going to like the school.

Next in every class the teacher hands out a syllabus. On this syllabus is rules that the teacher wants you to follow. Some teachers even go as far to say it is a contract between student and teacher. Many times when you read the teachers syllabus you will find that the syllabus does not match the university policies. It may say that you are not allowed to turn in any late assignments if you miss class, but the University policy may clearly state that you are allowed to turn in the assignment late. I experienced this once myself with an instructor. My car broke down and I couldn't make it to class. We had an assignment due that night. I emailed the teacher right away informing her of my absence, and I emailed her a copy of my assignment as well. I then told her if she needed a physical copy of the paper to let me know when I could bring that to her. She emailed me back stating that she did not take late papers or emailed papers, and that I should drop the class because I would essentially fail. Well according to the university policy at my school in the event of an unplanned absence the student has to contact the instructor as soon as possible, and the student has to be given adequate time to make the assignment up. I went to the chair of the department, and the chair of the department told her she had to follow university policies which includes allowing me to turn in my paper. If I didn't know the policy I may have just dropped the class and lost my credit.

Another reason to read the policies is related to the reason above. You need to know if your rights are ever violated. As a student you have rights and those rights should not be taken away from you. After all if you read the university policies before being admitted then you would expect those policies to be followed. You would not expect to get in class and have everything different from what you were told.

Last many instructors seem to think that because they have a PHD they are above the rules. They treat their syllabus like it is set in stone and will not bend on it. The problem is many of these instructors have not bothered to read the university policies themselves. Instructors have a right to make a syllabus , but the instructors syllabus must also match up with university policies. There are rules to follow in all jobs and instructors must follow the university policy set forth by their school. In the event that they are not following the policy and will not budge, it is up to the student to know who to go to in order to solve the issue. Some schools require you to follow a chain of command. You want to make sure you do everything right on your end so that if a problem arises it falls back on the instructor and not on you.

So remember when you are putting in applications to read the university policies. If you are already a student read your schools university policies now. Know the policies well so that you can avoid unfair treatment, your rights being violated, lowering of grades, being dropped from a class, and any other issue that may come up. Save yourself a lot of heart ache and stress by learning these. If you don't even know your rights then you wont know when they are being violated. You also need to know when an instructor is valid for not letting you turn in your assignment. This is not a freebe to get out of your work, but rather it is a means to make sure you are being treated fairly by the school and by the instructor.

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