Student Illness, Injury or Death

Purpose:

To provide the college guidance on the process and notification guidelines for when a currently enrolled student becomes critically ill or injured or passes away during their enrollment to ensure a professional, coordinated, caring and consistent response by the college. The procedures for implementation of this policy are provided below.

Procedure and/or Process Definitions:

Critically Ill or Injured: Illness or Injury of a student that will prevent a student from being able to successfully complete the remaining

Student: any person currently enrolled in any course(s) at Reynolds Community College

Procedures:

Information about a currently enrolled student who has become critically ill or injured or has passed away, should be immediately reported to:

1. the Department of Public Safety if occurred on-campus or
2. the Vice President of Student Affairs (VPDSA) if off-campus

If a member of the college community learns of a currently enrolled student who is critically ill, injured or of the death of a student, the following information is helpful to properly identify the student and to ensure the correct information is disseminated to the necessary College officials.

• Student’s official full name
• Student ID Number
• Date of Birth
• Date and cause of illness, injury or death

If on-campus, the Department of Public Safety will share notice with the VPDSA. If off-campus, the VPDSA will confirm the illness, injury or death through official and appropriate channels and communicate information to the appropriate college personnel.

The VPDSA will serve as the official point of contact between the college and the student / student’s family which will include follow-up on the official procedures taken by the college to address the student’s enrollment, student account, and other services and support offered by the college as appropriate.

The VPDSA will be responsible for communicating information to appropriate campus personnel to take actions as described below:

Administrative Process/Protocol:

Once notified of a critical student illness, injury or death, campus personnel in their respective areas will take the actions described below. If a student has passed away, all offices should remove the student's name from any mailing lists (paper or electronic) that it maintains and withhold any future correspondence addressed to the student.

VPDSA:

• Confirm the illness, injury, or death by obtaining official documentation (doctors note, obituary, death certificate, etc.).
• Share with the President, all Vice Presidents, the Dean of Students, the Office of Communications, the Records Office, Information Technology, and the Financial Aid Office.
• If the student has passed away, review the Award of Degree Posthumously, per Reynolds Policy 1-13, Award of Degrees Posthumously.

Dean of Students:

• Notify instructors and cc: dean(s), notification will also include information about resources, support, if appropriate for students and faculty. The dean and/or department chair may notify other faculty as appropriate.
• Notify other college personnel will be notified, as appropriate, if the student was affiliated with a particular program, activity, or office on campus.
• Provide support and resources for members of the campus community, as appropriate (e.g., outreach to friends and/for family enrolled at the college and students taking courses in which the student was enrolled).

Registrar:

• Upon the confirmation of death of the student with appropriate documentation (obituary, certificate of death), an annotation is made in SIS. The documentation will be maintained in the electronic records filing system. Pertinent information on the student’s academic record is updated, such as: a deceased indicator, addresses will be updated to prevent inadvertent or additional mailings, and enrollment and matriculation, will be updated to reflect the reason for the closure of the academic record.

• Upon confirmation of the incapacitation by the documented Power Of Attorney for the incapacitated student, the Registrar’s office will process the drop/withdrawal as indicated below:

  • If the student’s drop state (date of death/date illness or injury) is prior to the end of the drop/add period, a full refund of tuition and fees is processed.
  • If the student’s withdrawal state (date of death/date of illness or injury) is after the drop/add period, the withdrawal is dated per the course instructors record of late date of attendance. No refunds are issued, per Reynolds Policy 1-02, Tuition Refunds.
• Per Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) regulations: Under common law regarding privacy rights, the privacy interests of an individual expire with that individual’s death. Accordingly, the disposition of records held by an institution and pertaining to a deceased individual is not a FERPA issue but a matter of institutional policy. Because FERPA would no longer apply, the institution may exercise its own discretion in deciding whether, and under what conditions, information should be disclosed to survivors and other third parties.

Financial Aid:

• Upon receipt of a death certificate for a student:
  • Notify appropriate federal and state agencies of the student’s death.
  • Adjust any aid awarded for the semester concurrent with the student’s death according to federal and state R2T4 regulations.
  • Cancel any aid awarded to the student for future terms.
• For students withdrawing for serious illness or injury:
  • Adjust any aid awarded for the semester concurrent with the student’s injury/illness according to federal and state R2T4 regulations.

Communications Office:

• Work with the VPDSA to send College notice(s) with permission of the student or student’s family member, as applicable.

Information Technology:

• If student has passed away, disable the student's accounts, including email, Canvas, and computer labs.

Other Information:

Reynolds Policy 1-02, Tuition Refunds

Reynolds Policy 1-13, Award of Degrees Posthumously