Excuse Notes

Students may experience medical conditions, psychological conditions, illnesses, or injuries that affect their ability to attend or perform optimally in class or on exams. While the Student Health Care Center (SHCC) can provide student excuse notes, there are some limitations and restrictions.  

Per UF policy, students who are absent from classes or exams because of illness should first contact their instructors.  The SHCC can provide an excuse note if we are involved in your medical care, or in limited cases of severe illness, injury or if medically indicated. 

If you are seen at the SHCC, we can provide a Verification of Visit form showing when you were here; however, this IS NOT considered an excuse note.  PLEASE NOTE: If a patient receives care for their illness or injury from a non-SHCC medical provider, they must obtain an excuse note or verification of visit from that medical provider. 

SHCC Written Excuse Note: 

Excuse notes may be written by SHCC medical providers or nurses (MD’s, PA’s, APRN’s, RN’s and LPN’s). When applicable, a standardized letter is completed in the patient’s electronic health record.  

  • If a patient significantly improves prior to the estimated return date, or the illness continues longer than estimated, the patient may need to obtain an additional excuse note.   
  • If a patient needs additional time for recovery prior to returning to classes or work, they must return to see the SHCC provider prior to the original estimated return date.  
  • Unless specifically requested by the patient, the SHCC does not place a diagnosis on an excuse note. SHCC staff does not release information about a patient’s medical and/or psychiatric condition to UF administrators, instructors, parents (unless the patient is a minor) or employers without the patient’s express permission and a signed release.  

Self-Care Class Note:  

In times of high SHCC appointment demand and increased illness rates on campus, the Self-Care Class Note is an option for students to self-submit a note to their instructors and the Dean of Students office. This note option is available to students thru the SHCC website (www.shcc.ufl.edu/self-care). PLEASE NOTE: This is not an excuse note, but rather a note stating that the student attests to having certain symptoms that maybe contagious and are in-line with the symptoms listed on the website. By completing the form, the student understands that falsely sending the form that they would be in violation of University Regulation 4.040 (Student Honor Code and Student Conduct Code). This self-care class note is only available to students via the website when 1) the UF Campus is experiencing a higher than usual viral illness rate and 2) the SHCC is at maximum capacity for appointment availability. If the note is not available via the website then these criteria have not been met, and a student would need to make an appointment to be seen in person or via TeleHealth for a written excuse note.