You have a form due tomorrow and four boxes to choose from.
Nobody explained what each one costs. This page does, using UF's own regulation and its own paperwork.
Where are you right now?
Tap one. You'll get only what applies to you.
Nothing is filed yet. What you say now can become the report.
- There is an informal resolution branch that exists before charges are determined. Once you are charged, it is gone.
- You are not required to explain yourself to a professor on the spot or by email.
- Anything you write can be attached to the report.
- This is the cheapest moment in the process to get advice, and almost nobody uses it.
Two things are already true, and neither is in the email.
- You can no longer drop or withdraw from that course. A temporary Incomplete goes in until it resolves.
- The notice has the charges but not the evidence. You see the evidence at the Information Meeting, and only the parts your professor selected.
- You may bring one advisor, including a legal representative, identified at least two class days ahead with a privacy waiver on file.
- Go to the meeting. Do not go in having already decided to apologize.
This is the decision point, and it is close to irreversible.
- The 5pm deadline is not in the regulation. SCCR sets it, which is why extensions are often granted if you ask in advance.
- Two of the four boxes waive your right to appeal the finding. One sentence of fine print says so.
- The two hearing options are not equivalent. One gets Dean of Students review. The other does not.
- You can request the full case file, including footage that was not played for you, before you decide.
- The form states your selections may not be altered.
What is still available depends on which box you checked.
- Denied responsibility: you have a hearing ahead and full appeal grounds. Preparation is everything now.
- Accepted responsibility: your appeal is limited to sanction severity. That argument still exists and is worth making properly.
- Separately, your professor sets the grade after the conduct case closes. That has not happened yet.
- The grade is usually the part that actually damages you, and the part people stop watching.
Ten class days. In writing.
- Class days exclude holidays, closures and breaks, so the real deadline may be later than you think. Count it carefully.
- After a hearing: rights violated in a way that affected the outcome, new information, or sanctions not appropriate.
- After accepting responsibility: sanctions not appropriate. That is the only ground left.
- The grade adjustment may still be pending. That is a separate track.
Two things to understand before you call the school.
- Your student is the party. Under FERPA the university will generally not discuss it with you unless your student signs a waiver.
- You can be the advisor or you can hire one, but only one person is permitted and they must be named in advance.
- The conduct sanction and the grade are two decisions. The grade comes from the professor afterward, and it can be failure in the course.
- On Bright Futures, a course failure can drop the GPA below the renewal threshold.
The 5pm deadline is not a rule. It appears nowhere in Regulation 4.040. SCCR applies it as office practice, which is exactly why extensions are often available when you ask in advance. Most students never ask.
The four boxes, and what each one costs
Tap any box.
Administrative Review
Tap to see the cost →
A conversation with an SCCR staff member about reflection, not about whether it happened.
Restorative Dialogue
Tap to see the cost →
The softer option, and the one most likely to disappear on you.
Student Conduct Committee Hearing
Tap to see what you keep →
Two students and one faculty or staff member hear it.
Individual Hearing Officer Hearing
Tap to see the difference →
One trained conduct officer decides alone.
UF does disclose it. One sentence, smaller type, under the box you are about to tick, on a form due tomorrow.
Were you told these?
Tap each one you were actually told.
Your professor sets the grade, not SCCR
UF's Grade Adjustment guidance is explicit: Student Life, the Dean of Students Office and SCCR do not have purview over the specific grade. The faculty member determines it, after the conduct process concludes. It can be failure in the course.
UF's guidance says the time to discuss a potential grade is during a Restorative Dialogue or a hearing where the faculty member is present.
Administrative Review has no faculty member present.
So the path that feels like cooperating costs you your appeal on the finding and your only conversation with the person who decides your grade.
The full range of grade adjustments
- Point or percentage reductions on the work
- Required resubmission with a deduction
- Loss of the privilege of dropping your lowest grade in the course
- No extra credit counted
- A letter grade deduction for the entire course
- Failure on the work in question
- Failure in the course
Two decisions, two parties. The conduct sanction comes from SCCR. The grade comes from the person who reported you, afterward, with no oversight from the conduct office.
Bright Futures: why the grade is the scholarship
Bright Futures renewal requires maintaining a minimum GPA, either 2.75 or 3.0 depending on the award. A course failure imposed as a grade adjustment can push a student under that line.
Which means the practical decision-maker over a Florida student's scholarship is one faculty member, acting after the conduct case is already closed.
What you can ask for, and usually are not offered
The full case file
Regulation 4.040 gives an accused student the right to review all known information in the University's possession, both inculpatory and exculpatory, and to inspect the case file at least five class days before a scheduled hearing. It is arranged after you sign a privacy agreement, and it generally has to be requested. That agreement bars photographing or recording the file, so you may inspect the evidence, not copy it.
The footage that was not played for you
Proctored exam cases usually involve a screen recording, a webcam recording and a room scan. What gets shown are the timestamps your professor selected. The rest exists. Asking for a different angle at the same timestamp is often where a case changes shape.
More time
SCCR has discretion over its own deadlines and will generally accommodate a reasonable request made in advance.
An advisor
Regulation 4.040 defines an Advisor as a person chosen to serve as advisor, advocate, or legal representative. One person, at your own expense, identified at least two class days in advance with the appropriate privacy waiver on file.
One honest limit: the regulation routes questioning of witnesses through the hearing body and does not grant an advisor a right of cross-examination. What an advisor does is ask for the evidence that was not produced, work out which box fits your facts, and keep the process pointed at the University's burden rather than yours.
Who has to prove what
Regulation 4.040 states that the accused student has the right to a presumption that no violation occurred, and that the University, not the student, carries the burden of proof. The standard is preponderance.
Most students walk in believing the opposite. That matters most in AI detection cases, where the evidence is often a percentage score and nothing else.
The process from start to finish
1. Report. A faculty member submits an incident report to SCCR. Staff review it and decide whether charges can be brought. An informal or conflict resolution branch exists at this stage, before charges are determined.
2. Notice of Charges. Lists the specific subsections alleged, a brief description, and an invitation to an Information Meeting. No evidence attached. Withdrawal from the course is blocked from here.
3. Information Meeting. A walkthrough, not a hearing. SCCR explains the process, shows the evidence submitted, reviews the charges. Ask whether your case is separable or non-separable, meaning whether suspension or expulsion is on the table.
4. The checklist. Initial that rights were reviewed, mark responsible or not responsible for each charge separately, choose one of four resolution paths. Usually due 5pm the next day.
5. Resolution. Administrative Review or Restorative Dialogue if accepting. Committee hearing or individual hearing officer if denying.
6. Outcome letter, then appeal. Ten class days, in writing.
Appeals and deadlines
Ten class days from the date of the decision letter, in writing. Class days exclude holidays, closures and breaks.
After a hearing, three grounds: rights violated in a way that materially affected the outcome, new relevant information, or sanctions not appropriate.
After accepting responsibility, one ground: sanctions not appropriate.
Talk it through before you send that form back
A Legal Information and Strategy Session is a scheduled consultation with an attorney about your actual situation, your actual evidence, and which box fits your facts.
Schedule a LISS — $600Paid consultation. Not a free case review.
Attorney advertising. This page is general information about the University of Florida's published conduct process and is not legal advice. It does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case turns on its own facts, and the process may differ depending on whether your case is designated separable or non-separable, on the college involved, and on later revisions to University regulations. Descriptions are drawn from UF Regulation 4.040 as amended December 8, 2023, and from forms published by the UF Division of Student Life, Dean of Students Office. Verify current versions before relying on any of this. Montgomery Law Group, PLLC.