If there’s one thing colleges love, it’s paperwork and policies.

So when one senior learned he was blocked from graduating due to a technicality, he decided to run an appeal all the way up to the dean’s office.

That day, he learned a very important lesson in reading the fine print.

Keep reading for the full story.

Won’t let me graduate college on time?

Senior year, I realized I could add an Anthropology minor to my degree and still graduate in time.

I scheduled the appropriate classes to meet this new goal, but a class I needed was cancelled at the last minute because of low interest.

The student decided he needed to improvise, so he did his best.

So I signed up for a bunch of blow-off classes because all I needed were electives for my major.

I go through the semester, and every once in a while I get emails about not being scheduled to correctly graduate and that the deadline has already passed to meet these requirements.

I replied to these advisors saying I decided not to get my minor and should still be good to go.

Eventually, I decide to call and talk to them.

That’s when they tell him he needed to take a completely different type of class.

Turns out I needed “upper-level electives,” so my Anth 101 and Basket Weaving for Idiots 102 did not count for that requirement.

I go in to talk to an advisor and talk to them.

I ended up getting the assistant dean for this meeting.

Now the student is upset he was notified on such short notice.

I asked them why they didn’t notify me of the graduation issue sooner before the deadline to add/drop classes.

They said that they aren’t notified of cancelled classes until much later.

He once again tries to improvise, but is thwarted by pointless red tape.

I asked if I could take some online classes very quickly and graduate on time.

She said I could take online classes to fulfill the requirement, but that they have a policy where you cannot graduate the same semester that you take online classes because the grades might not come in on time.

I ask them if I can appeal this “policy.”

This was possible, but not easy,

They said I could, but that I signed this paperwork saying “any schedule change must be approved by the dean of my college” during my final meeting with my advisor before the last semester, so it was unlikely to be granted.

So you’re saying that the only thing keeping me from winning an appeal of this policy is this paperwork I signed?

Cool.

So the student made the best of his situation.

I signed up for two senior-level reading- and essay-intensive history classes.

You are allowed to do a maximum of three weeks’ worth of work per week for online classes at this university.

I had nine weeks before the end of the semester, and the shortest window to complete these classes is six.

He hustled hard and cranked out a mindblowing amount of work.

I wrote an average of 64 pages of essays a week for six weeks straight to get done in the six weeks.

Grades got posted about one week before the end of the semester.

Cue the MC.

Then came the appeal.

I write my appeal of the policy.

I attach a copy of my signed paperwork that says “any schedule change must be approved by a dean of my college.”

I also point out how the assistant dean tells me that they aren’t notified of cancelled classes.

He doesn’t pull punches with the school.

“How could this cancelled class that initially made me not scheduled correctly to graduate be removed from my schedule without my dean’s approval?

You (the college) violated this agreement that you had me sign.”

It turns out, his words were quite persuasive in the end.

One week later, I was presented with my hand-labeled diploma that was not kept in the alphabetical and printed-labeled diplomas of the other graduating students.

I squeezed through so late that they couldn’t even print a label for the envelope.

He walks away with an important lesson to share.

Always read the wording of the things you sign when trying to get out of them.

This agreement simply stated “a schedule change,” not “a schedule change made by me.”

Take that, dean’s office.

What did Reddit think?

This user dealt with a very similar situation.

Perhaps a career in law is in this student’s future.

The best teachers ingrain important lessons in their students early on.

Legal documents should always be taken literally.

Turns out the most valuable thing this college student learned was how to find a good loophole.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.