LECOM School of Dental Medicine — Dismissal & Appeals

Written by Zachary Gaynor, attorney · The Florida Bar, admitted 2016 · court admissions. Reviewed 1 October 2026.

Who decides whether a LECOM dental student continues?

At the LECOM School of Dental Medicine in Bradenton, academic survival runs through the Student Promotion and Graduation (SPG) Committee — assistant deans and full-time faculty, “with legal counsel as necessary,” in the catalog’s own words. The SPG recommends; the Dean decides; and an appeal of the Dean’s decision goes to the President within seven days. The numbers that get students in the room are specific: remediation passes only at 75%, a PBL score below 65% is not even eligible for remediation, and failing two courses in an academic year is listed ground for dismissal.

The academic rules

The School of Dental Medicine Academic Catalog and Student Handbook (2026–2027 edition) sets the ladder. Every failure goes to the SPG Committee. A failed course is remediated by examination: the pass line is 75%, the highest grade remediation can produce is a 75 (recorded as a C alongside the original F, which is excluded from the GPA), and the remediation grade itself cannot be appealed. Remediation runs on the student’s own money — a $100 exam fee, $500 for on-campus course remediation — and the catalog warns it is not covered by financial aid.

The failure math: courses of three credit hours or more are “major” courses. Failing two major courses, or one major plus two minor courses, may mean repeating the year or dismissal. In problem-based learning (PBL), a score below 65% skips remediation entirely — the options become repeating the year or dismissal. Pre-clinical courses with simulation labs must be passed twice over: the didactic portion at 75% and the practical examinations at 75% independently, passing the majority of practicals.

GPA floors: below a 2.5 in the first or second year marks a student “high-risk”; below a cumulative 2.0 at year’s end means repeating the year regardless of how many courses were failed. And the repeat year is a one-time event for the entire LECOM career — a repeating student who fails to progress is dismissed, pays that year through private financing because federal loans pause until progress resumes, and is ineligible to appeal grades at all while repeating.

Clinical years: a failed clinical course (CCC) can be remediated at the SPG’s discretion, with notice from the SPG chair generally within 15 working days of the grade; failing two or more clinical courses sends the student to the SPG chair and the Assistant Dean of Patient Care Services, with repeat-the-year or dismissal as the listed outcomes. Failing a remediated course, failing two courses or a clinical semester in a year, and “unsatisfactory professional and personal behavior” are the catalog’s stated dismissal grounds.

How the hearing and the appeals actually run

When a student is called before the SPG, the committee reviews the written record first, the student appears, may address the committee and submit documentation, answers questions, and then leaves while the committee votes a recommendation to the Dean — who may accept, reject, or modify it. For honor-code matters the SPG is also the reviewing committee; the student may bring a non-attorney institutional representative into the room, a written appeal to the Dean is due within three working days of the committee’s decision, and the President’s review — requested within seven working days of the Dean’s decision — is final and limited to what was argued below.

Grade appeals have their own three-step track with its own clocks: a conference with the faculty member first, then a written appeal to the SPG within 10 working days of receiving the grade, then the Dean within seven business days, then the President. Because the catalog limits every later step to the record made earlier, the first written submission is the one that matters — LECOM is a private school, and the catalog is the contract. The case is built on whether the school followed its own published procedures, with the lawyer working the record from outside the room.

Where the governing documents are

The School of Dental Medicine Academic Catalog and Student Handbook 2026–2027 (sections 2.4 on grading, remediation, and dismissal; section 9.6 on the SPG Committee; sections 9.9–9.10 on discipline, enrollment status during appeal, and grievances), published on lecom.edu. The edition for your enrollment year governs — verify deadlines against the current catalog.

Other LECOM and Florida programs

These pages set out the procedure at related programs: LECOM Bradenton (College of Osteopathic Medicine), LECOM School of Pharmacy, UF College of Dentistry, NSU College of Dental Medicine, and all Florida dental schools. The general framework is at academic dismissal.

Common questions

I scored 68% in a course. What happens now?

Between 65% and 74%, you sit a comprehensive remediation examination (after paying the fee). You need 75% to pass, the transcript will show at best a C alongside the original F, and the remediation grade cannot be appealed. Below 65%, there is no remediation — the SPG considers a tutorial-and-exam route in pre-clinical courses, or repeating the year, or dismissal. The time to contest the underlying grade is before remediation, on the grade-appeal track, not after.

Can I bring a lawyer to the SPG Committee or an honor-code hearing?

Not into the room — the catalog allows a non-attorney institutional representative in honor-code matters, and SPG appearances are the student alone. The lawyer’s work happens outside: building the written submission, the documentation packet, and the appeal to the Dean and President — which are decided on that record.

What does “repeating the year” really cost?

It is available once in your entire time at LECOM, federal loans are unavailable until you make academic progress again — the catalog requires private financing and full payment arrangements before the second week — and students repeating a year are ineligible for grade appeals. Treat the decision that sends you there as the appealable event.

The SPG recommended dismissal. Is that final?

No — the SPG recommends, and the Dean accepts, rejects, or modifies. The Dean’s decision can be appealed to the President within seven days, on the record already made. That sequence is short and unforgiving, which is why the documentation given to the SPG at the first appearance — not the appeal letter afterward — usually decides the outcome.

Do I stay enrolled while my appeal runs?

Yes, if you appeal correctly: under catalog section 9.9.1, a dismissed student who files an official appeal with the Office of the President remains in classes and clinical rotations during the appeal, unless the Dean finds the appeal procedurally improper or the student’s presence disruptive or potentially harmful. Exams taken during that period are not scored until the appeal resolves, and the Registrar holds grades and transcripts. Filing by the book is what keeps you in the building.