When it comes to excuses for missing assignments, PNW professors have heard it all.

“Many years ago, a student in my online course failed to take any of the exams,” said David Nalbone, professor of Psychology. “The student’s mother called me to swear that the student must have taken those exams and that he would never ever lie to her, so I needed to just take her word for it.”

The problem is that the system records the time students spend with any online class.

“The tracking data … showed the student had spent a total of about 12 minutes in the entire course—certainly not enough time to take, let alone pass, any of the four exams,” said Nalbone. “Goes to show that students will sometimes go to great lengths to try to fool their parents.”

Some excuses are honest, but still unacceptable – even for professors who have a reputation for being forgiving.

“The only excuse so far that I have not accepted is that students tell me they’re on vacation during the time the assignment was due,” said Yu Ouyang, associate professor of Political Science. “That’s entirely on them. They could’ve completed the assignment before they left for the vacation.”

Then, there are students who just lie. 

Lee Artz, professor of Media Studies, knows this all too well.

“One student told me that his grandmother had just passed away, so he couldn’t turn the assignment in on time,” stated Artz. “Normally, this would have been acceptable – if I didn’t know that this student’s grandmother happened to pass a year prior instead.

“I told them that I was so sorry that your grandmother keeps doing this to you, it must be really difficult to keep up with her deaths,” said Artz. “They felt really embarrassed, but there was no way I could let that one slide.”

Every once in a while, students go to the extreme to back up their excuse.

Jake Giles, studio technician and professor of Communication, has seen how elaborate excuses can get.

“I had one student who was perpetually late to class and they claimed they were going out of town on a vacation and forgot to turn something in and skipped class,” said Giles. “When they emailed to inform me after the class that they wouldn’t be able to turn the assignment in until they got back, I told them that it still needed to be turned in for credit.

“They showed up later that day with suitcases in hand to ‘prove’ they were on their way to the airport,” he said. “[It] was bizarre as it didn’t really prove anything or serve as a sufficient excuse on why you were turning something in at the last minute. 

“What made this worse, is that this person later did the exact same thing, suitcases and all, later in the semester,” said Giles. “While it’s entirely possible they really were jet-setting around the country and constantly forgetting to turn in assignments or show up for important classes, it also meant that either their education wasn’t a priority, or they had really poor time management skills.”