I don't think anyone will be surprised to hear that year-end is coming up soon. I wanted to put out some reminders. I can't stress enough the importance of these 6 things, so please do read.
#1 - June 6th remains the day to have work in and exams done for courses in order to guarantee your marks make the school year-end report card at the end of the month. For those who are looking to graduate for the July window, this will be the cutoff date.
#2 - Students who have taken their classes for less than 12 months, have made significant and consistent progress, and would like more time there is the option to connect with their teacher by email and arrange for an extension. Please be mindful of how busy it is for our teachers right now. I would suggest contacting them for this request immediately. This would allow the student to continue into the summer. At 12 months a course will be dropped.
#3 - Book those exams fast! It's really busy right now in the testing rooms. Every day is "selling out" so to speak. Book yours early here: http://vlns.ca/courses/book-an-exam.
#4 - If you're sending marks to post-secondary institutions make sure you filled out the PSI report. That allows universities to get your FINAL grades once they're uploaded. This uses the same form as the PSI process, but will be used for final marks. The cutoff for that is the end of June. Link here: https://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/exams/tsw/tsw/student/
#5 - The Adult Grad fee DATE will be changing in September. This school year there was no charge if you were graduated and born after July 1st, 1996. Starting September, any class you're actively enrolled in (INCLUDING ones you're taking NOW), will use the July 1st, 1997 date so get your education while you can! :)
#6 - If you were thinking of adding another course we've got spring/summer versions that are designed to get people moving faster through them up at VLNS.ca right now for all of our most popular courses. They'll be the ones most actively monitored and marked by teachers during July and August.

​All newly admitted students are invited to join us on the Burnaby campus on Thursday May 26 from 6:00PM to 9:00PM for the 23rd annual Information Evening.

It’s a chance for students to connect with members of the SFU community to learn how to make the most of their university experience. Parents and Counsellors are also encouraged to attend.

More info available at:​
https://www.sfu.ca/students/counsellors/news/2016/information-evening-2016.html

I wanted to share some information with you around course extensions, my availability long term, and graduation timelines.

1. Course Extensions: If you are going to need time beyond June 6th to work on your course, and you've been registered in the course for less than 12 months, you can email your teacher (info generally being on the course site) with a message that says you're an adult and that you'd like to be extended into the summer session. If at the end of the summer session you're still working away and you're still under 12 months of time in the course you can ask to be extended into the following school year. The email to your teacher just needs to mention you're an adult student working with me who wants to continue into the summer.

2. Next Graduation date for diplomas: Just so you know the next date for graduation diplomas is July 1st. That means that there are no graduation diplomas being sent home between now and later July. We just got a batch today. I contacted a couple of you already about this.

3. VLN is reorganizing: In August/September VLN will be moving to Sir Charles Tupper, at King Ed & Fraser (not too far from here). As part of this reorganization many of us won't be moving with it and so my job at VLN is somewhat discontinued at the end of June. I say somewhat because I'm likely coming in for August to cover the counselling department, but would be away for July and beyond August. There will still be continued and uninterrupted service, but I mention this because the personal of the school will be changing fairly substantially. A new counsellor will be available to continue supporting you as well into September.
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If you have any questions about this or anything let me know. Hope you're all doing well with your classes. Thanks, Nick.