Contact Us
If you need to contact the University Approved Absence Office, you can do so by emailing uaao@unc.edu.
If you are a student emailing the UAAO, please review the information below to see if your question is already answered. If it is answered below, you will not receive a separate response.
The University Approved Absence Office reviews requests as promptly as possible. While it usually does not take more than 3 business days to review requests, request reviews may take up to 10 business days for review and consultation with other departments as appropriate.
Emails sent to the UAAO requesting UAAs are not considered official requests and will not be approved/reviewed.
Examples of absences that do not meet the criteria for a University Approved Absence: weddings, travel issues, weather, conferences, job duties, student activities, common illnesses, and intermittent absences due to chronic health issues/diagnoses.
Examples of absences that do meet the criteria for a University Approved Absence: emergency surgery, death of a family member, medically directed Covid-19 isolation, hospitalization, religious observations, and military duty.
Specific questions regarding Covid-19 symptoms and testing should be directed directly to Campus Health.
Please note that approved absences related to COVID may be shorter or longer (up to a total of 10 days) than the dates listed in your UAA PDF notification. Under current CDC and University guidance, individuals testing positive for COVID are instructed to isolate for a period of 5 days from the date of a positive test or the onset of COVID-related symptoms, whichever is earlier. If an individual’s symptoms are not resolving at the end of five days, individuals are instructed to continue their isolation. We encourage faculty to work with students in a manner that encourages them to return to class promptly, but only when it is safe and appropriate to do so. A student may return to class earlier than stated on their UAA PDF notification if they have met the CDC and University’s isolation requirements. Additional or modified documentation for COVID-related absences will only be issued if a student’s absence is approved to extend beyond 10 days by a medical provider.
As a reminder, there is no appeal process for a denial of a UAA request. If a student’s request is denied because it does not meet the Class Attendance Policy criteria, that student will need to work directly with their faculty members on their absence. Faculty have the authority to grant academic adjustments to students who do not meet the criteria for a UAA.
University Approved Absences are not valid for dates after the last day of class and do not cover the Final Exam period. For Final Exam Excuses, students will need to follow the Final Exam Excuse process.