This late policy below is largely copied from that for CS107 at Stanford, originally written by Julie Zelenski.

Late policy: just the facts

• The cutoff for on-time submission is 5pm on the due date. Late days are counted in 24-hour periods. Submitting between 5:01pm on the due date and 5pm the next day is one day late, and so on.

• You are given 3 “grace days” (self-granted extensions) which you can use to give yourself extra time without penalty.

• Instructor-granted extensions are only considered after all grace days are used and only given in exceptional situations.

• Late work handed in when you have run out of grace is discounted 10 % per day late.

• Every assignment has a hard deadline, usually 2 days past the original due date. Late submissions (penalty or not) are not accepted after the hard deadline.

• No late submissions (penalty or not) will be accepted for the last assignment in the quarter.

Late policy: long-winded version

The philosophy driving this late policy has three goals:

• Discourage lateness. We want to provide incentives for you to balance your commitments and adapt/triage as necessary to meet deadlines. We curtail lateness by providing only a limited amount of grace, applying a penalty for lateness beyond grace, and enforcing a hard deadline.

• Empower you to make your own decisions. You decide when your situation warrants the use of a grace day.

• Keep things fair. Students are allowed an equal amount of grace. Only a truly exceptional situation is granted extension beyond the grace days.

Self-granted extensions (AKA “grace days”)

Grace days are “self-granted extensions”. We recognize that the competing demands of a challenging courseload and extracurriculars can be an unforgiving landscape and even the most careful of plans can be derailed by an unforeseen event. When the unexpected happens – you get the flu, the network goes down, you delete a critical file, a personal situation escalates – you would usually have to request an extension from the staff. Instead you are given the privilege to grant yourself an extension without our oversight. One grace day extends the deadline by 24 hours. Grace days are your means to cover real problems: illness, stolen laptops, bike accidents, and so on. We don't intend them to cover ski trips, overcommitment, or poor planning, but you can use them as you choose and we don't check up on you. You may use all of your grace days for one assignment, distribute them across several assignments, or even better, hoard them for a crisis that thankfully never comes.

Instructor-granted extensions

Grace days are extensions, no different than what would be given by the instructor (other than you have the authority to determine when one is warranted). Your first line of recourse when crisis strikes is always to grant your own extension through use of a grace day. A request for an instructor-granted extension instead of using your own grace days will never be approved. Only after you have exhausted all of your grace days in valid use should you request further accommodation. In those extenuating circumstances, please contact Sanjay, preferably in person.

Students often go to great lengths to meet deadlines and conserve grace days: pull all-nighters, ignore other classes, miss events they wanted to attend, work when feeling poorly, submit unpolished programs, or take penalty late days as a last resort. It would not be respectful of their efforts to hand out extra days to students who were less committed to meeting deadlines or not as cautious in conserving grace days. If asking for an instructor-granted extension, you will be expected to legitimize how all of your grace days were used, and make a compelling case for additional accommodation beyond the grace days everyone else receives. We use this information to find an appropriate balance between providing relief to you and maintaining fairness to others.

Late work with penalty

When you are out of grace days, submitting late work will be penalized 10% per day. By this calculation, it is worth taking a penalty late day if you have significant work you can complete, but if you have only small details to polish, it is better to turn it in and move on.

Submitting late work

The filing cabinet on the 2nd floor of Packard will be emptied at 5pm every day. If you miss the collection, then your submission is counted as late. If you are choosing to use one of your grace days, you do not need to confirm with us, just submit your work normally and it will be time-stamped accordingly. Note that no assignments (penalty or not) will be accepted after the hard deadline.