text:
Possible to defend myself from plagiarism in draft thesis?
I recently submitted my latest draft thesis to my advisor. I had been having problems with my advisor because I had found him unhelpful, he would not make it easy for me to ask him questions as he would raise his voice and cut me off, and I was confused by the goals/aims of the project and I feel he has misled me.
I had submitted a few draft theses before that the main advisor read, but the co-advisor did not read any of them. The co-advisor read the latest draft in detail and said I plagiarized. I admit that I didn't consider this constituted plagiarism and thought this was just a draft, I was mostly concerned about whether my ideas made sense and I was sure it would be changed because I knew the main advisor wouldn't like it. The parts they accused was plagiarism was in my previous drafts as well, so because the main advisor didn't mention those were plagiarized, I didn't change those parts. I was just hoping to keep the co-advisor. I also never intended to steal other people's work and claim it as my own.
Do you know if there's a good chance I'll get expelled,  based on your experience with plagiarism in master's draft theses?

Welcome to Academia SE. Your question needs some editing to be a good fit for this site: 1) Can you please reduce it to what is relvant to your question. Your previous quarrels between you and your advisor seem to have no bearing on your questions at all. 2) All three questions in your last paragraph depend strongly on facts that we cannot know, in particular the personalities of the people you are dealing with. Please think about a question that somebody not knowing you or all these people could answer, e.g., under which conditions your case could actually be considered plagiarism.

I don't know if this will help in your defense, but I am curious why you thought it was OK to "slightly reword entire paragraphs" even with a citation. Would that have been acceptable on an essay in your secondary school/high school? Are you perhaps from a culture which has different views on plagiarism? In your earlier schooling (before college), were you ever assigned a term paper/extended report and taught about citing sources and plagiarism?

"The dean's office will not investigate ..." doesn't make sense in this context. Is "not"a typo that should be "now"?

@ske - What country or part of the world are you in?  That could affect the situation strongly.

@ske that edit removed some extremely important information. "(I thought just citing the source was good enough, I was unaware rewording sentences/paragraphs even with the citation was plagiarism and I never intended to claim others' work was mine)."
Removing this part puts the post in a very very very different light. Poorly formatted citation vs actual plagiarism.

As a general rule of thumb almost anything is acceptable if properly and honestly cited, you could wrap entire pages in quotes with diagrams and simply re-use them with citations that's fine. People may not like it for lack of adding new content but it's not dishonest. Quoting large portions and citing but citing poorly is still different from passing things off as your own dishonestly.  On the other hand if you read something and put it into your own words without citing the source that's far worse. (even without re-using a single word actually used in the source.)

According to my own understanding of what a "draft" means, it sounds like you're getting a raw deal here.  A "draft" is an informal document that is in the process of being changed and improved.  Unless "submitting a thesis draft" is something formal in your program, to me this sounds like accusing someone of cheating for looking up the answers to a practice test.  I also view the fact that you included the citations as a key one in your defense: that makes it quite clear that you are not in the middle of a larger plan to steal others' work; you just turned in a shoddy draft.
You do however sound very naive about what plagiarism means and how academic writing works.  You don't write an academic document by taking others' words, modifying them slightly, and then planning later to modify them enough to make it not plagiarism.  At no point in this are you actually doing the independent thinking and writing that's asked of you.  If you want to indicate in a draft that you intend to include standard background material, you could include a section that is almost blank with "[Standard background to be filled in here as from SourceX]".  The less generous way to look at your situation is "How did Mr. Ske manage to make it all the way to a master's thesis without understanding basic academic norms?  If he hasn't understood these things by now, it's too late."
The other issue is that, sorry to say, the rest of your description of your academic experience sounds extremely (virtually entirely) negative.  You have a bad relationship with your advisor -- very bad; he raises his voice at you when you ask questions, and he directly mocked you; both of these are really unacceptable -- you have a coadvisor who didn't read any of your previous drafts and gave you papers that you found "irrelevant" (which they might be, or you might be mistaken about it; either way is bad).  Finally, someone who should be helping you out instead reported you to the Dean's office.  This is really not good!
To answer your question: accepting everything you've said as an accurate account of the events, I personally find it unlikely that you will be expelled for this.  However I am much less optimistic that you can move forward from this to successfully defend your thesis and complete your degree.  The behavior exhibited by your advisor and coadvisor could well be gearing up not to accept your thesis.  Someone who accuses you of plagiarism is surely pretty close to being done with you whether the accusation is affirmed or not.  I'm sorry to say it, but I think you should be looking for exit strategies and considering other options.  It is certainly worth a shot to go to your advisor and say "Look, this has been a bumpy road and I acknowledge that.  I've been working on my degree for XX years, have spent YY months working on my thesis, and I would really like to finish it if at all possible, even if it is not perfect or what we originally hoped for.  I would really appreciate your help in showing me what I can do to make that happen.  I know that the primary responsibility is mine, and I'm willing to put in lots of hard work between now and ZZ, but so far I haven't met expectations, so getting more specific direction will really help me through this."  Almost all advisors want their students to finish rather than not, so that is a good shot at salvaging a bad situation.
Good luck.
Added: Here is another site on the internet containing some discussion on the issue of plagiarism on a thesis draft.  Note that the case in question concerns missing references, which is not exactly the same as yours and to me seems more serious.  The overall consensus is that initiating formal plagiarism proceedings for this is so far over the top that there must be something else going on beneath it, which is my thought as well.  However they point out that a ruling will depend on the precise plagiarism rules at your university, which (i) of course we can't know and (ii) of course it is your responsibility to know.  But again, reading between the lines here, there is something profoundly wrong with your relationship with your coadvisor, so trying to fix that directly has got to be a good idea.  The fact that it will not nullify the formal plagiarism inquiry is just an (unsurprising) formality: that's just saying that once something has been started, you can't unstart it, you can only end it.  The only person who is accusing you of anything is your coadvisor, so if you can work things out with him, the inquiry will almost certainly work out in your favor.  Hinting that you did this because of his bad advising seems like the worst possible strategy to me.
Finally, my talk of "exit strategies" does not mean that you should simply give up: in fact, as I immediately followed, you should have a frank discussion with both of these faculty to see whether the thesis and degree can be salvaged and if so how.  But to be realistic, you sound like you are in an unusually bad situation: if you are at a university where master's students repeatedly get turned in by their advisors for what they write in their thesis drafts: yes, consider the prospect of going elsewhere if you can.  Starting over is not the end of the world, and sometimes it is the best way to move forward.

"[Y]ou mean I should drop out now?" No, that's pretty clearly not what I meant, given that I included a specific plea to try to get things on track with your advisor.  However, the possibility that you may not be able to continue in your program is there, and you should face up to that.  But you should be considering other options...yes, including changing advisors.  If that is possible and if you are in good standing in the program except for the opinions of your current advisors, I think that is a very good idea.

To the mods: I find the details about the quarrel of the OP with his supervisor in the first revision of the post very informative.
To the OP: from what you said, I'm afraid that your supervisor were right about you not understanding the project.

I was confused by the goals/aims of the project

It's like somebody tried to run quickly, but didn't know where he needed to go. Therefore, I wasn't surprised when your supervisor said your results had not been sufficient, when you thought they were. Especially, I find this very problematic:

It turns out that the prof thought I was using a code that performed A
  when it actually performed B.

Perhaps, the story from your supervisor might be: he wanted you to implement B, and it turned out you implemented A, and he was so frustrated for the time he had wasted for you.
So next time, if you get confused about anything, or you find the theory irrelevant etc, speak out and discuss with your supervisor until everything is clear, and an agreement is made. And this is a commitment that when you have agreed, you need to follow it strictly. You can also write meeting minutes to document that and avoid any misunderstandings.

However, now the damage has been made, and your goal is to fix it. IMHO, accidental plagiarism in an informal document is not a big deal, what to fix is your relationship with you supervisor and co-supervisor.
What you want is their agreement and sympathy so that you can have another chance with your thesis. You can't achieve that by telling them that they were wrong (and I don't think you can prove that in this case, since it is a clear plagiarism to me). Instead, you should sincerely accept your mistake due to your inexperience in doing research, and sincerely apology and ask for another chance. I think the last paragraph in Pete Clark's answer is excellent.
If it still doesn't work, sincerely thank them for their time and guidance, then look for another supervisor to re-do your thesis.


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Can an outsider use university facilities for a technical discussion group?
As one with significant interest and some knowledge in the subfield of computer architecture, living reasonably close to a university, the idea of organizing and facilitating a discussion/reading group in this subject area came to mind.
Would a university be open to the use of its facilities for such an activity offered by someone with no official affiliation with the university?
(Holding such on-campus seems likely to be convenient for the most likely participants but such is not necessary.)
Also, what would be the best way to present such to faculty and students?

While I do not anticipate being ready to offer to organize such a group any time soon, such might be something to look forward to.

Corrections and additions to tags are quite welcome. (E.g., [outreach] seems questionable.)

You'd probably want to find a contact on the campus to host you. They're going to want an employee or student organization to hold responsible if your reading group trashes their facilities.

That said, if you can find appropriate sponsorship, a lot of universities are quite happy to host related community events.

And the second part of the question ("what would be the best way to present such to faculty and students?")?

Technically it may or may not be against the universities rules. You can almost certainly look these up online. The keywords may be calendar of regulations, and governance.
The rules/policies of a university, like many large organizations, can be very fragmented. For example, when researching around this question, I found that there were no rules at my university preventing members of the general public from attending lectures, so long as there were enough seats. Where as there is a rule forbidding any exercise or sports being carried out in any location on campus not specifically assigned for such activities by the vice-chancellor (or his direct delegate). While the rules might not formally exist though, they may come under a internal "common law", where there is precedent for throwing randoms off campus etc.
With that said, on a practical basis there is likely little anyone can do about it, or even detect it, if you turned up in a common space (eg a collaborative study area in a library) and did what is practically collaborative study.
So long as you didn't disturb anyone, they almost certainly won't take note, or care.
If your group has any alumni, or current students or staff of the university or of a university this one has a relationship with, that would aslo decrease the chance of anyone having issue.
If you don't want access to any restricted resources (like private rooms or projectors), it is probably easiest to ask forgiveness, than permission.
If someone takes issue, they will most-likely just ask you to leave. Which of course you should do so quietly and politely.

My alma mater tended to not mind who was coming onto campus, except for two groups which received special attention - people who appeared to be homeless, and people trying to solicit sex on campus. The first group would usually be escorted off campus and told not to return for a certain amount of time (typically six months or a year) under threat of being charged with trespassing if they did return within the window. The second group would be arrested by campus police and charged and then also told not to return for a similar amount of time.

Yeah for sure many universities allow, mainly if the subject is related and is helpful for both the students and university.

What would be the best way to present such to faculty and students?

You can use physical bulletin boards and you can look around for one or more listserves.
You can attend some seminars and chat with some people afterwards over cookies.  (If no one is bringing cookies to seminars -- bring some!)

source: Stack Exchange

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

authors: علي بن سالم باقطيان

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What consequences are there if, having already graduated and received my degree, I do not pay up my tuition fees?
Background: I just graduated from a US university. I have also received my diploma (both in paper form mailed to me and also in electronic form) certifying that I have received such-and-such a degree.
However, I have not paid the tuition fees for the very last semester in which I enrolled.
I do not plan to have any dealings with that university ever again. Nor do I intend to work in academia.
It appears that eventually they will put some sort of "financial hold" on my student account, but given that I already have what I need (namely the degree), I don't really care about that.
So my question is this: What consequences are there if I never pay those tuition fees? For example, can they (or will they) revoke my degree? Are they likely to pursue me for the money?
New information added: I originally requested that morality and ethics be left out of this question, but it seems clear that with some exceptions (notably NateEldredge), this request has been ignored. So I would like to elaborate a little more on my situation, in the hopes that the focus will be moved a little further away from calling me a thief and instead answering my above questions.
(1) I last took classes in the spring semester and was supposed to graduate then, but because of a mistake on my part, I missed the deadline to apply for graduation that semester. And so in order to graduate, I had to register for the summer semester as well. I did not take any classes in the summer semester. I did not take up any additional resources during the summer semester, unless you include whatever little manpower was required to process my graduation. Nonetheless I was fully billed for it, as if I took a full load of classes.
(2) This is perhaps controversial, but I personally view the US higher education system as being costly to the point of injustice. I have already paid >$200k in tuition and fees into the system and now I am being billed for another semester in which I took no classes.
The money is not the issue. If I go ahead with this plan, I will donate every penny of that semester's worth of tuition fees to some worthy charity instead. The issue is that I am disgusted with having to give away even more of my money to the bloated, inefficient, "not-for-profit" US higher education system.
Some here have called me a thief. But I prefer to see this as a small act of civil disobedience---akin to what Aaron Swartz did, when he "stole" millions of articles from JSTOR and refused to compensate JSTOR for the "damages". (Note: By no means do I consider this potential act of mine as great and noble as Swartz's; I'm just trying to draw an analogy here.)
(3) BTW, I am an international student. So there is the option of me simply leaving and never returning to the US, in which case the concerns associated with bad credit are moot. Although I would also like to have the option of staying in the US, and so I do welcome and appreciate the answers given thus far regarding credit issues.

You are now a university graduate and you are educated enough to know that money debts do not evaporate by ignoring them or hiding your head in the sand and pretend they do not exist. Instead they have huge interests when they are overdue and they become even bigger over time. What do you believe? That you are the first person who thought of such a silly scheme against universities? You have more chances to ask for a refund, because they have not taught you the basics of how debts, economy and life in general works, than getting away with such a ridiculous plan.

What happens if you rent an apartment for a year and don't pay the last month? The landlord was kind enough not to kick you out; you are now leaving to a different city and don't have plans to have any dealings with him (or that city) again; moreover, you and have no moral qualms about not paying the last month -- you have already paid thousands of dollars for previous months.  What do you think will happen?

What consequences are there to being a thief?

Should we ignore all moral aspects just because you want us to, and, help you not avoid paying a legal debt?

How much you feel is "enough" to pay isn't really relevant to how much you owe.

Whether or not you have no moral qualms about not paying your debt does not necessarily determine whether it is moral to avoid doing so. Please, for your sake and the sakes of those around you, be honest with yourself about the right thing to do. If you're having trouble paying your remaining tuition, asking for advice about what options you have would make an excellent question.

@PierreB I see no problem with ignoring the moral aspects of this question. It's a silly question anyway…

@RanG. quite possibly nothing will happen, and the landlord will decide that it's not worth pursuing the debt (especially if it can be taken from my deposit). But this question isn't about landlords, it's about universities, so maybe the answer will be different.

There is a reason my university doesn't allow you to graduate until all fees are paid in full ...

in the spring semester and was supposed to graduate then, but because of a mistake on my part, I missed the deadline to apply for graduation that semester You should have talked to the school at the end of Spring semester to avoid this problem. I would suggest you to emphasize this in your question so that people would understand although some would still blame you for the mistake you made. At least, it would be better than thief. ( I did not do this).

I personally view the US higher education system as being costly to the point of injustice. I have already paid >$200k in tuition and fees into the system Why did you start studies in the US then? Surely you knew how much it would cost you.

Is billing in the US unrelated to the subjects you take? If you only take a 3/4 study load you'd get billed for a full time load?

I did not call you a thief, just a fool for believing you could get away for not paying what you owe. Aaron Swartz committed suicide which was really a shame (for any person) really and was a huge waste of his talents. Why want to imitate his actions when those actions did not even benefit him in the first place?

Everyting below "New information added" is irrelevant and doesn't contribute to the question here. Yes, you'll get some comments (about morality) that don't answer the question, but you shouldn't use that much space in the question text for answering them. The extra text just provokes more off-topic discussion. You already have good answers to the real question, like Alexandros's comment (there's nothing about moral there!) and Nate Eldredge's answer.

Actually I think most people did rather well at sticking to the original question.

Based on the clarification, I would say "talk to the office and get this straightened out". It makes no sense to register for classes if you don't intend to / need to take them. I don't know in what university you can only graduate at the end of a paid-up semester - just because you did not register to graduate "in time" doesn't mean you can't simply attend a graduation ceremony "later". The mistake was made when you registered for a semester and did not pay. Talk to the bursar's office, and straighten out the mistake. Don't carry an unpaid debt - it will follow you in unpredictable ways.

If you don't think you owe money for that semester, then you need to get a lawyer.  It sounds like you dispute charges.  I don't know what country you are from, but fighting a bank (you aren't fighting the University, but a bank) by simply refusing payment won't work.  Going to court might work.

This appears to be an obvious mistake on the behalf of the University, have you considered the potential impact on the person that made the mistake? Possibly fired... just saying if the money is not a problem....

@user30609: Given how university bureaucracies (or bureaucracies in general) work, it seems more likely that nobody would really notice. The debt would just be automatically passed on to some debt collection agency and no single person at the university would be responsible.

@JerryS1988 excellent point, I am probably thinking of how it would happen in the private sector but as you mention it would be totally different!

Some universities (perhaps most) will refuse to provide transcripts for students who owe money. Example.
This can be a serious problem for you. Some employers insist upon an official transcript as a condition of employment. Your  diploma or similar certificate  will not suffice; the  employer wants a document directly from the university, which has not passed through your hands (to avoid the risk of you falsifying it). If the university won't send a transcript because you didn't pay them, too bad, no job for you.
Also, you say you are done with academia, but if you should change your mind someday: US  graduate programs generally require an official transcript from your undergraduate university as a condition of admission. So no grad school for you, either.
Academic matters aside, the university also has all the same options that would be available to any other creditor. This side of things is more on topic for our sibling site, http://money.stackexchange.com, but as a partial overview:

They can report you to a credit agency, which will damage your credit score and make it difficult or impossible for you to get credit cards, car loans, mortgages, etc. Bad credit can also keep you from getting a job in certain industries, especially defense and other work that requires a security clearance.
They can refer your account to a collection agency, who will try pretty hard to bother you until you pay.
In principle, they could sue you, and they'd almost certainly win, as they can easily prove you owe the money. This would enable them to get a court order to seize your assets (eg take money directly from your bank account) or garnish your wages (take money directly from your paycheck).

Note that while technically your employer is not supposed to treat you any different if your wages get garnished, in the real world they don't forget that this person doesn't pay their debts.

For example, can they (or will they) revoke my degree?

I am surprised that you were issued a degree without having paid tuition for your last semester.  In most cases I am familiar with, universities require students to be in good financial standing in order to receive a degree, for exactly this reason.  If it was an intentional decision, not holding up your degree for nonpayment of tuition is unusually generous on their part.  If it was a bureaucratic mistake: yes, it seems that in principle they could revoke -- or suspend pending payment, or whatever -- your degree.  Given that you did not live up to your end of the bargain in a significant way, I would have to acknowledge their right to do so.  Will they?  I don't know: you could ask them.

Are they likely to pursue me for the money?

It is likely that you will be hearing from them within the next year, yes.  When they contact you, you'll learn how serious they are and what their terms are.  The chance that they will ask about it presumably becomes smaller as time passes, but you never know.  In terms of how long you are legally liable for the debt: a good long time; ask a lawyer.  My PhD program wrote to tell me that I had overpaid a bill in my final semester and they wanted to send me a refund check.  I received this letter from them about eight years after receiving my PhD!  (There was something in there about their not having been able to track me down, which I thought was pretty weird, but bureaucracies work in strange ways.)  If a university was so durably interested in squaring an old account in my favor, I would not at all discount the possibility that N years down the line they could discover the issue and start it up again.  Not doing anything would risk having this hang over you indefinitely.

Personally I have no moral qualms about not paying that last semester's fees, given that I've already paid upwards of $200k over the years.

Just because you have no moral qualms about something does not make your actions ethical.  Many people, including future employers, upon learning about this would view it as a serious character flaw. If you plan on listing your degree on your resume then anyone who wants to can look into this at any time.  Are you confident now that what you are doing five or ten or twenty years later is something so that having this information revealed would be no problem for you?
Added: The OP has modified his question.  I will address those modifications.
First I want to address the point about the ethics.  I read that carefully, and the claim that I ignored it is false.  The OP's question was "What can happen to me if I do this?" and after addressing all of the specific questions he asked about that, I decided to address the part that there are practical consequences to behaving in a way that other people regard as unethical.  Pointing out "If you do this, then you may -- or may not, depending upon the circles you run in -- get in trouble" is not an ethical argument in the slightest.  It is quite the opposite.  Only at the very end of my answer did I include two sentences which indicated that I viewed the actions as unethical.  This point has been well made by many others by now, so I have removed those sentences.  This leaves an answer which is 100% devoted to answering both the letter and spirit of the OP's question.
Now, on to the added points:
(1) This is an important detail, enough so that it probably should have been in the original question.  Being charged for a full semester's tuition even though you didn't take any classes does seem unjust.  In fact, it is so unjust that I think there is a good chance that it was a mistake of some sort, and the fact that you were allowed to graduate is nontrivial evidence of that (a circumstance which otherwise seems quite irregular).  If you have received a bill for a full semester's worth of tuition, you should speak to some university official on the phone or in person and explain why that is not reasonable.  Definitely mention that you've already received the degree.
(2) You are now explicitly making an ethical argument, so here we go.  Referring to the nonpayment of a debt that you entered into voluntarily following a mistake on your part as "civil disobedience" is ridiculous almost to the point of being offensive.  If you wanted to stand on principle, then you should not have agreed to pay the bill in the first place.  You could then have asked them "Are you really going to deny me my degree after I've completed all the requirements and paid all the tuition just because of some missed graduation deadline?  Because I refuse to pay another semester's tuition: that's outrageous.  In exchange, I will tell the world that I do not have a degree from this institution but that I completed all the requirements and paid all the money for the semesters that I took."  Instead you obtained your degree under a promise to pay and are now reneging on that promise.  This is not a virtuous act.
(2 continued) You chose to pay more than $200,000 for your college education.  (Statistically speaking, it is much more likely that your parents paid.  But I'm taking you at your word.)  Is that more than you should have paid?  Well, that's for you to decide, but it's a hell of a lot more than I paid or would have been willing to pay.  In fact I paid no tuition whatsoever, because I got a merit-based scholarship.  My sister got into an Ivy League school but decided to attend an excellent state university instead and paid a fraction of the price.  At my current institution, in-state residents who maintain a 3.0 GPA pay no tuition whatsoever.  And so on.  The flaw in your moral stance is that you willingly entered into this bargain.  Arguably you shouldn't have.  Not only would you have more moral high ground, you would probably have at least another $100,000.
(3) For an international student to come to the US and pay full tuition, it is likely that you come from a wealthy background and that you and/or your family have made a very conscious investment in getting a degree from an elite American institution.  You could have attended a university in your native country, most likely for a small fraction of the cost.  Since you did not do that, I am guessing that you want to be able to advertise your American degree.  If that degree carries a lot of prestige in your home country, then it seems likely that they will not just take your word for it that you attended and graduated but will want to see official documents and/or transcripts coming from the university.  Investing $200,000 and not having that to show for it would be a very poor outcome for you...practically speaking.

At my institution "fulfilling all financial obligations to the university" is a stated graduation requirement in both the undergraduate and graduate course catalogs. I am also surprised you received your diploma at all.

Even at my (public) high school they won't let you graduate till you've paid your debts! (Library dues, sports, etc.)

A friend of mine had to pay the final 50p they owed before they could graduate.

Yeah, you may not have a problem with it morally, but this "Many people, including future employers, upon learning about this would view it as a serious character flaw" is so true. This question just makes me queasy. I'm surprised you're able to justify it to yourself as anything other than theft.

Good answer but there's no need to lecture about ethics.

Given the rising costs of tuition going almost entirely into inflating administration costs at the top, it's a very reasonable form of civil disobedience. There are consequences which the OP wants to be informed of, but a sarcastic ethics lecture isn't fair either.

@djechlin it's really not. Inflating tuition is a consequence of government-subsidized cheap credit. Civil disobedience would be to refuse to pay the taxes that fuel that inflation. Especially if the money is spent on people who at the end do not understand simple concepts like a commercial transaction, a debt, or what "civil disobedience" really is. I second Pete's comment about the use of that word being inappropriate.

@djechlin: Any links to back up the claim that the rising costs of tuition are going almost entirely into inflating administrative costs at the top?

@Mehrdad http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/04/what-s-behind-america-s-soaring-college-costs/360462/

If I were a hiring manager verifying the degree for a recent graduate and the institution reported that they walked away without paying their bills, that candidate would be an automatic no-hire.  Would you want to work with someone who had demonstrated they cannot be trusted?
Even ignoring the ethics of the situation, be careful with your reputation.  You can earn money to pay off debt, but repairing your reputation is much more difficult.  The world is smaller than you might imagine and consequences have a tendency of coming back around in surprising ways.
Others have already covered the more basic financial aspects of not making good on your debts.  If you ever want to buy a home, in particular, pay careful attention to your credit record.

another aspect that everyone else seems to have missed is that the school can go back and issue you an AF (administrative fail) for the semester's courses, thus invalidating your degree.  The piece of paper they handed you as you walked across the commencement podium is not your degree...it's just a certificate.

Interesting.  I'm not familiar with any universities that have a policy of retroactively altering student grades (or invalidating degrees) for financial or other non-academic reasons.  Can you point to a university that does have such a policy (preferably in writing)?

If the OP didn't take any subjects that semester then what would the AF apply to?

Most universities have a policy that all tuition and fees must be fully settled for a degree to be issued.  Many will, however, allow the candidate to walk across the commencement podium and receive a scroll along with their classmates, because of the administrative delays and "friction" in the system.  My point is that the OP thinks he has a degree, but he might just have a piece of paper.  What matters is whether the UNIVERSITY thinks he has a degree.

Any debt you have can be eventually sold by the party you owe to (although for amount less than original) to agency which is collecting payments. If such an agency is unsuccessful to get the payment from you, they usually work with executor on collecting it. In my country, executor has powers guaranted by law which include blocking your bank account or seizing your property including house, appartment or car. And they do it. Even with smaller owed amounts, executor fees plus interest can cost you much. I know cases where people originally owing 10.000€ were expected to pay 45.000€ after few years.

What consequences are there if I never pay those tuition fees?
They take you to court and sue you for their money.  This puts a black mark on your credit rating.  Then either 1) you pay, or 2) you don't pay.

You pay, have a lower credit rating, but this will gradually rise again if you make all your payments on time.
You don't pay.  The court issues an unsatisfied judgement with the credit bureau.  This NEVER goes away (until it is paid).   Later you want to get married and buy a house, car, etc....  The bank looks at your credit report, sees UNSATISFIED JUDGEMENT and closes the file, that's it, you're done.

The bank will only look at your credit report if you try to borrow money.  And getting married should work in any case.

Also this is only a possible consequence with several possible detours: (1) most universities don't bother suing people for debts themselves, (2) the people they sell the debts to buy them cheap and may or may not sue you, (3) when they sue you, they may or may not offer a settlement, and (4) state judges are pretty crazy sometimes.

Due to people getting caught lying on their resumes/CVs more and more employers are verifying with schools that candidates actually attended and received the degrees they have listed.
Your university could place a hold on your records and then refuse to confirm your attendance and/or graduation to a potential employer. Whose word do you think a potential employer will take more seriously? My money is on it being not yours.
As to your in-hand paper certificate and electronic file, in all honesty, they're worth the paper they're printed on.

Another point not mentioned by others is this:  College debts CANNOT be included in any subsequent bankruptcy actions on your part.  In other words, if you owe your university for your last semester's tuition and figure you'll simply file for bankruptcy and "wipe the slate clean" your college debts will still be with you after you've filed for bankruptcy.  And, with that bankruptcy action following you for at least seven years into any requests for credit that you might make - including mortgages - it seems a pointless exercise.  In addition to credit worthiness, a bankruptcy affects your attempts to get a job, to obtain a security clearance, and even to obtain rental housing.
Pulling a fast one on your university is not something you first thought up.  This idea is NOT original by you.  Universities are plagued with a few shysters like you every year.  That's why it's so surprising to many of us that the university allowed you to think that you've graduated and "got away with it."  If I were you, I'd start looking over my shoulder at my credit report, waiting for collection agencies to start calling at all hours, and find either your bank account or paycheck docked the cost of your tuition - plus attorney's fees - all actions you will have no control over.  You might think you've gotten away with something, but you'll learn the hard way that the real world (beyond academia) has a way of dealing with shysters and thieves.
The amount you've already paid for your education has no bearing on the matter.

What you describe is the case for student loans.  It's not clear if the OP has actually taken out a student loan for the semester (signed a promissory note, agreed to a payment plan, etc).  It sounds to me more as if the university has simply billed him for the full amount of tuition, payable immediately - no loan was taken out.  I'm not aware that the "no discharge in bankruptcy" rule applies in that case - do you have a citation for this?

Specifically, if he had a student loan, then the university would have been paid in full by the lender, and they would have no reason to place a financial hold on the OP's account.  In that case the OP's debt would be to the lender, not to the university, and the lender wouldn't have the power to impose any academic consequences.

In fact, contrary to the un-eliminable nature of student loans,  paid college tuition can be clawed back in bankruptcy to meet the claims of other debtors (http://www.wsj.com/articles/bankruptcy-trustees-claw-back-college-tuition-paid-for-filers-kids-1430869820)

agreed with @NateEldredge here...this answer is completely wrong.  Federally guaranteed student loans are not dischargeable, but a debt to the school itself is.  A loan comes from a BANK, not a school, though the whole bank mechanism might not be apparent to a student who is not paying a lot of attention.

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text:
Is it rude not to take a course with your adviser?
This semester I need to take a course that is offered in two sections, one of which will be taught by my M.Sc. thesis advisor.
The problem is that I personally prefer to take the course with the other professor instead of my advisor because:

The teaching quality of my advisor is not as good as the other professor.
If I take the course with my current advisor, the TAs would be my labmates, and it makes me a little nervous that my grades and activities be exposed to them (and also to the professor).

I want to know generally: is it OK to not take a course with your advisor, especially if that course is the main focus of your lab and your work.

Are your adviser's class and the class that you want to take taught at the same time? If not, can you arrange to have a schedule conflict with your adviser's class?

Talk to your advisor! What I would do is tell my advisor I want to take this other course and some rationale as to why and get his/her feedback. Most professors I have met wouldn't mind at all and would probably encourage me to do so if the other class is beneficial.

@AndreasBlass no,they are not on the same time.

Andreas's solution is the face-saving one.

You may learn more going with the other professor. By working with your supervisor, you are learning his style and focus in great detail. The other professor will likely take a different approach, that can enrich your views on the topic.
I disagree with RoboKaren about the letter. He knows you best from working with him, and taking a course would actually add very little to his knowledge of your performance that cannot be seen by looking at your transcript. His letter would be mostly based on what you have done with him, and he hopefully wants to write that you are a brilliant and resourceful researcher.
Now, how is your supervisor going to take it? Impossible to know without talking to him! When I was considering taking a course partially taught by my former MSc supervisor, he told me that I already knew almost everything he was going to say, and would consider waving his part of the course for a report. But professors are human beings, and come in all varieties.
Lastly, I think that your "grades and activities being exposed [to your labmates]" is not a good reason to not take a course; but avoiding conflict of interest is a better one.

Expanding my comments from earlier...
Most importantly, talk to your advisor. Either you should be able to convince him/her that the other course will benefit you more or he/she should be able to convince you that his/her course will benefit you more.
I disagree with RoboKaren's answer. Working with your advisor is far more important than taking a class with him/her for a letter of rec. You may have other opportunities to take a course with him/her anyway.

I'm not sure I'd even bring the matter up. Just sign up for the preferred class. However, in the event that the advisor asks the question ("How come you're not in my section?"), have a good answer handy. Don't say, "Because I've heard the other professsor teaches better than you." Ouch! Try, "I figured that I'd be working with you a lot over the next few years, and this is one of the few chances I'll get to hear Prof. X." (That may not be the primary reason, but it's not a lie, either.) Marketing is everything; it's all in how we couch it. "Do I look fat in this dress?"

While it may be permitted, it's not advisable to graduate without ever having taken a class with your advisor. Remember that one of the things that you will want to do is ask your advisor for a letter of recommendation (either for a job or for graduate school).  So if you have never taken a class with your advisor, do so.
The reason is that when writing the letter, they will want to say that they had you in class and that you were brilliant. If they've never had you in class, it's hard for them to make that type of evaluative statement. A much shorter and weaker letter may result.
The most important thing, though, is to talk to your advisor. I have actively advised my students to take a class that isn't mine (and that meets at the same time as mine) because it is better for their scholarly development.  At the same time, I had supervised their work closely and felt that I knew them fairly well.
Note: While this is not part of the question, if you are somehow giving the impression that you think lowly of the professor and of your lab mates, then you may have bigger problems than a course or two.

I disagree. Working with your advisor is far more important than taking a class with him/her for a letter of rec. Also, the OP didn't say he has taken/will take 0 classes with his advisor.

I agree, it's unclear as to whether the OP had taken 0 classes previously. I've adjusted my answer.

@Austin - if you would have posted that as an answer instead of a comment, you'd be 110 points richer :)

@eykanal And I would have another prestiguos badge! I will post an expanded answer now...

I'd give a letter of recommendation to somebody who never took a class with me if they worked with me instead. No requirement, but then I obviously can't comment on the person as a student.


text:
How do I get a DOI for a dataset?
A DOI is a commonly used digital object identifier to refer to an electronic document. How do I secure a DOI for a research dataset, to help share and identify it?

There are a number of ways in which a DOI could be linked to a dataset:

Figshare will provide a DOI for any deposited work, which includes data.
Zenodo also provides DOIs for any kind of research output, including datasets
Dryad provides DOIs for data submissions linked to papers (for a fee, which includes storage, curation, archival, & checks for best-practice [HT @DaisieHuang for pointing out my lazy description of fee previously])

You might also look to see if a domain-specific repository provides a DOI for data. The journal Scientific Data maintains a good list of repositories you can look at.
Choosing a DOI provider will depend on particular circumstances. Both Figshare and Zenodo are both free to use services for example whereas Dryad charges for the service they offer to cover ongoing storage and archival costs.
Some points of comparison between Figshare, Dryad, and Zenodo, etc
Dryad accepts data relating to publications; if it isn't associated with a paper then they won't accept it. Figshare and Zenodo will accept any research output, whether linked to publication or not. In that sense Figshare and Zenodo are more broadly applicable to any research outputs.
Data may be more discoverable in Dryad or domain-specific repositories (DSRs) than in general purpose ones likes Figshare & Zenodo. Data is likely to be formatted in standard ways and more easily searched by online or other tools if they are archived in Dryad or DSRs. This is likely to encourage reuse.
Figshare is a for-profit commercial entity, Zenodo is run by CERN and was supported by the EU OpenAIRE project at one point, whilst Dryad is an not-for-profit entity supported by research grants and membership fees for organisations.

wow, our answers were so similar, crazy :)- i swear I didn't copy you

@ScottChamberlain I would be impressed if you had copied off of him, as you answered before he did!

@HDE226868 I'm quick but not 9 seconds quick ;-)

@ScottChamberlain If we carry on like this, we might get banned for as a suspected dual account :-)

@GavinSimpson heh, seems unlikely it would happen again

Perhaps one or both of these answers could be improved by giving some informaton on the differences between the options, and why somebody might choose one over another? (I'm asking here rather than writing my own answer because I don't know, and I'm interested to learn :-))

@SimonW You mean like what I've added? Anything else you want to know/have me comment on? Will do my best to answer.

To clarify: part of the Dryad fee is for curation; Dryad manually curates your datasets and does some checking for best practices.

@DaisieHuang Quite right & I know better too; didn't intend for this to look like Dryad was just asking for payment for disk space. Curation and archival extremely important and not without costs. I'll edit the above to reflect that.

There area number of routes. They do cost money to create, so you want to get it via one of many providers:

Figshare gives DOIs to items you put in your account with them - this is the most DIY route
Zenodo gives DOIs to objects
Many data repositories assign DOIs, e.g., Dryad

Dataverse will also issue DOIs.

This is a common question on the DOI FAQ:

You must use a service offered by a DOI Registration Agency (RA). RAs collect metadata, assign DOI names, and offer other services such as reference linking or metadata lookup. See the list of RAs, and contact the ones whose services best meet your needs. If you do not see an appropriate application listed, consider approaching an existing RA or developing a community to build the service you require (see the DOI Handbook, 8 Registration Agencies, for more information). You do not need to be a member of the International DOI Foundation in order to work with an RA.

This system is valid for data, as it can be applied to "any entity".
Lists are available:

Ariti, Inc.
CrossRef
China National Knowledge Infrastructure  (CNKI)
DataCite
EIDR (Entertainment Identifier Registry)
ISTIC (The Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China)
JaLC (Japan Link Center) mEDRA (Multilingual European DOI Registration
mEDRA (Multilingual European DOI Registration Agency)
OP (Publications Office of the European Union)

It is possible that your institution will provide a data repository for research conducted there. Some of them will also assign DOIs, but this is specific for the institution. If there is no DOI, usually there will be some other sort of permanent link you can use.

In some circumstances, ResearchGate gives you a DOI. Nevertheless, you can also try arXiv, while it could be a great solution for your issue. Following an early post, it can be useful to you also, by giving you a possible strategy.

You can find repositories that assign DOIs to datasets in the Repository Finder Tool.
You can filters those that actually meet the criteria of the Enabling FAIR Data.
edit: Full disclosure, I work at DataCite as a developer.

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text:
Two years into my PhD program, and Mom is dying of cancer. Should I tell my advisor about it?
I just finished my 2nd year of PhD, and my mom has been dying of cancer since the end of my 1st year. She nearly died in January but thankfully pulled through. She was just diagnosed again a few weeks ago and her prognosis is not good (resistant to chemo and can't get another surgery).
My cognitive abilities and general state of mind have suffered as a result of this situation. My research is very mathematical and being unable to stay focused for longer than 20 minutes really prevents me from making any progress. My emotional/mental state has also been seriously affected. I managed to pass my qual and aced my classes the past 6 months, but lately things are getting a lot worse.
I am hesitating if I should tell my advisor about my mom, but I feel that I'll just sound like I'm making excuses.
Quitting is NOT an option because I have never thought about it and I always wanted to do research since I was in high school.

Please refrain from posting comments and answers that might qualify as armchair psychology or medicine (e.g. comments about alternative diets as "cure" for cancer, for example, are not considered constructive here). (Also see: this meta post.)

I'm very sorry to hear about your situation. I wish your mom and you both inner peace and strength, while you're going through such an extremely difficult period in life. As for your question, I agree with previous answers, especially one by @ff524 (+1) - you should definitely let your advisor know about the situation.

Thank you guys.. I decided to tell my advisor. I hope it goes well.

Perhaps you should take a 1 semester or 1 year leave of absence. They will hold your funding for you until you return.

I am reading this from my cancer-having (and ultimately dying--as best, much sooner than we all thought) mother's hospital room. My heart goes out to you, I mostly understand (I did a Ph.D., too, though not during this! I can't quite imagine), and I'm glad you're getting helpful advice. Best to you.

I lost someone very important to me a few years ago, and I can't imagine what I wouldn't give for one more day with her. There is no worse regret than time you should have spent with a loved one that you can never get back. Some people in their last days ask for support. The best among us ask to be left alone, thinking that by isolating they spare everyone else the pain. Nothing could be further from the truth. She may say she doesn't want you to go home, but from the deepest part of my heart I'm telling you not to listen. Don't walk, run to your adviser and ask for a semester off.

Friend , my heart goes out to you

I'm very sorry about your mom, I had days that my cognitive abilities and general state of mind suffered, because of sadness, but I thought that time is going and nobody can stop it and just results of hardworking and bad working remain and time doesn't care about reasons of bad working. I think we all must believe that new opportunities and happier days will come  and we should move to get it

To echo something said in passing in one of the answers - taking time off before rather than after should be a priority.  (yes, there are logistical issues afterwards that need dealt with, but don't miss time with your mom now so that you can deal with her possessions later).

To those unfamiliar with the prospect of familial loss, it comes on very suddenly. It is traumatizing, and is usually met with an initial brief period of intense confusion. The OP has already gone to their adviser, which is the right move. We all have to bow to mortality, and it is never easy or convenient.

My deepest sympathies for what you are going through.
You should certainly tell your advisor. No reasonable person would believe that you are using this situation as an "excuse" for poor performance.
Understanding your situation will help your advisor do his/her job: advising you according to your current needs and circumstances.
Your advisor may be able to direct you to mental health and other support services at your university that can help you through this time. He/she can also make you aware of other options that are available under exceptional circumstances: for example, a short leave of absence if you feel it is necessary, or an option to delay a comprehensive exam, or other similar concessions that can take some of the academic pressure off you while you focus on regaining your mental and emotional health.

really appreciated it.. I don't want to take a leave of absence now though I will definitely consider it if my mom dies in the next few months..

@dankmatter When faced with such a hard decision, I would ask myself might I later regret the choice I made. I try to imagine having made one decision, and what might happen moving forward. I then ask myself whether it is then likely that I will regret the decision I have made. I do the same for the other choice. My approach does not necessarily lead to better choices, but it has helped me understand my choices better and not make choices I would later regret.

@dankmatter My condolences for what you're going through. I have never been in your situation, and I can't imagine what it would be like. However, I would consider taking a leave of absence, even a planned one between exams or responsibilities, before she passes, rather than after, just to see her and spend time with her. I had something similar with a family member at a critical point in my education and their health, and afterwards, not to be crass, but there was no point in taking time off because there was no one to see.

My mother died shortly after I matriculated to my PhD program.
I actually could not finish all of my classes, and had to make up work the following semester.
Everyone involved (dept. head, advisor, etc.) would have given me even more time than I took to get back on track, after a few months I dove into work as a way to deal with some of parts of the loss.
Any reasonable university and advisor will give you time, most large universities even have formal bereavement policies for graduate students (in the US at least).
You should certainly tell your dean/dept. head about it as well as your advisor, and even take a leave of absence if you need to.
Don't be afraid to take some time, the work can wait.

I'm very sorry about your mom.. I don't think I should take a leave of absence now since me moving back home wouldn't help anything and my mom does not want that.. but I'll definitely consider it if my mom does die in the next few months. My advisor isn't happy about my slow progress, and I think that's why I'm scared of telling him about it.. I really appreciate your comment

@dankmatter If anything, your advisor's concern about your progress is a reason why you should tell him the reason.

A student in our program took a year's leave to look after his mother while she died of cancer. I am sure that anyone who thought of it, thought more of him not less of him for it.
You should always give your advisor all relevant information regarding your performance. He/she has to assess your progress and will inevitably have a view regarding whether you are bright, stupid, lazy, hardworking, distractable, etc. Unless you truly think they are an ogre give them the full picture.

Thanks. It looks like you are a professor. I'm glad to see an answer from your perspective. Really appreciate it

I had an experience pretty similar to yours, also in the second year of my PhD program. While my father thankfully survived, he was entering surgery with roughly 50/50 odds of survival. To compound things, I was the one with power of attorney that would have had to make any potentially life-threatening decisions on his behalf should he have been unable to. Needless to say, this all had me a bit flustered.
Here's what I did:
I knew the chair fairly well, and I also knew he was a really nice guy (he's jokingly called "The Nicest Man in the World" in the department), so I went to him first. This was at the beginning of the second year in the program and I still hadn't built up a close relationship with my advisor yet. He sat me down and shared stories, really tried to make me feel comfortable. He assured me that the department would be behind me and would support me in whatever way. Take however much time I needed, etc.
I did eventually tell my advisor who was quite sympathetic. but given that I was still in the coursework phase of my grad career, interaction with my advisor wasn't a huge part of my life yet. It was pretty clear what to do -- take the required courses and do well -- so his advice wasn't needed as often.
I only had one negative reaction, from the person I was TAing for. This professor was quite clearly irritated by my need to miss two weeks of classes, even though my co-TAs were covering my sections for me (the saints they were). But hey, 2/3 ain't bad.
Fortunately, my father's surgery went well and his recovery was quick. This enabled me to return to campus fairly quickly, in under two weeks -- and largely at my father's insistence. The whole situation, while terrible at the time, had very little lasting impact on my graduate career as far as I can tell.
My Advice to You:
Now, clearly your situation is quite different than mine was. It sounds like death is a near certainty here. I'm sorry for this. It also sounds like you might think you're having some worsening mental health issues. If it is available to you, I'd highly recommend seeking some sort of relevant medical help. Counseling or some sort of therapy may be appropriate, but I'm not a Doctor, so talk to one you trust.
On to the more plainly academic stuff: It seems likely that in order to deal with both your stress and family situation you're going to have to take some time off at some point. You would want to talk to the relevant person in your department and tell them as soon as you make a decision so that they can find someone to replace you if you, e.g., were assigned any teaching responsibilities that semester.
It seems reasonable to talk to your advisor so long as you have a moderately good relationship with them.
Who else should you tell? Tell anyone to whom you have obligations or responsibilities that you won't be able to fulfill. If you have a part-time tutoring gig, those need to be cancelled. Most things I'm thinking of can probably be cancelled without reason or the generic "family emergency". Only speak about your situation to the extent that you're comfortable to and that it helps you.
Assuming you do take a leave of absence, I would try to keep it as short as you reasonably can. If you can go back after one semester, great. If not, then try again at two. Always give advanced notice of your plans to return so there's a spot for you in whatever your research/teaching role might be.
If you're anything like me, after a while away from research you just have to do something. Do what you can on your own. Keep in correspondence with your professors. Don't let your time away be time when you're forgotten. This doesn't mean a daily correspondence, but check in every once in a while. As you're getting ready to come back you can let them know that.
Mostly? Don't worry too much about how others will respond and focus on yourself and your family. As many of the other answers have said, any reasonably decent person will understand and not hold your situation against you.

Thanks. Glad to hear that your father survived. I probably won't consider a leave of absence unless my mom really dies in the future.. Your advice on leave of absence is very insightful. It's very relieving to know that I'm not alone in this boat.. None of my friends/peers know about my mom yet except for 2 persons

My father died of cancer earlier this year. I am trying to finish a math PhD thesis.
I informed my advisor almost immediately (by email) and told that I would not be available for some time. This was not questioned. I should have told of the situation earlier, but the end can come quickly. I did not have teaching duties at the moment. My relationship with my advisor is good. If you have a troubled relationship with your advisor, then things may be more complicated.
I was away from the university for maybe two weeks - I don't recall exactly. After that performance has been spotty. The sorrow returns every now and then, even if it usually stays out of consciousness.

If you have a precise set of  courses you should take at precise times, then you should try to negotiate them with whoever is appropriate. Ask for help freely and explain your situation honestly. This may involve crying.
Also try negotiating any teaching duties you may have. Around here the common way is to swap some teaching with someone else; you might want to arrange this before you are in hurry. Select someone who can replace you and whom you trust. Tell them what is going on and ask if they would teach in your place for some days on short notice, if necessary.
If possible, try to stop your research at a suitable point. You can write an introduction to an article without your full mental capacity. You can also submit a paper to arXiv and to journals and consider changes suggested by referees. Finding more references is also not terribly taxing. Try to have such easier, but still relevant, tasks to return to. Also, inform any co-authors about having personal problems and not doing anything with the paper for at least a month or two.

You may want to find out how a formal break from PhD studies works at your university.
At least in Finland there is a fair amount of paperwork to do (hopefully you are not doing them alone) after a death. If you need to sell a house or apartment, there will be even more. Do not underestimate the emotional side of dealing with your mother's possessions and home.

thanks. Sorry to hear about your father. I did cry a lot lately and back in January. I do have teaching duties in the fall but I'm probably gonna stick with it just so that I will have something to do so I won't be obsessed with sadness..

I think it is useful to have a backup plan for the teaching - do it if you can and want to, but also have someone who can do the teaching for a couple of days and who knows the situation, or whichever is the conventional way to deal with sudden temporary absence from teaching.

My mom died of cancer in the middle of my third year of post-graduate studies.
I'm female in a (heavily at the time) male-dominated field, and I did try to put up a strong front for that reason. Even so, I wouldn't have drempt of keeping such important information from my advisor, especially as I had to take lots of unexpected days off intermittently as she was in and out of the ICU (in a country about 11 hours from where I was.)
My best advice is that you do what you won't regret later. I tried to fulfill my obligations to my studies as well as to be there for my mother (who was close to death several times.) My biggest regret is that I waited too long before finally asking to take (and being immediately granted) a leave of absence. My mother died before I even left to go to her.
My deepest sympathy for what you are going through. As someone else said, think about yourself and your mother, and do what's best for the both of you. The rest will fall into place.

Yes, tell your advisor and head of Dept.  As someone who has been responsible for PhD students (physics), and has lost his mother, I can see it from both sides.  Your life will change and you will have a very busy and jumpy mind for a long time, and find focusing difficult - but it will get better.  Work on your organisational skills in order to keep on top of things - I found I let stuff get on top of me that ordinarily I would just have dealt with.
As a manager, I really want to know if anyone working with or for me is having any issues.  It may explain otherwise odd actions or changes in performance and most managers and advisors will realise that you need time - this time of life happens to most of us.
lastly, good luck in your studies and my thoughts are with you.

I was working on a Master's when I got news that my Mom had terminal cancer. After some deliberation my family made the decision to move back to be with her and help in anyway we could. My school gave me an interruption for a year with no issues whatsoever.
My Mom died within hours of our arrival. We made the decision to stay to get my Dad back on his feet. I ended up working in an area unrelated to my studies to be in the same place for a year and am just now restarting my Master's at a different institution closer to home.
Take a while to think about your situation. There will always be time to finish your studies. There is no likely penalty for delay but you will never get this time back with your Mom.
Life is more than academics and work.

I can tell you are a really nice person. Thanks for sharing something so personal, on behalf of all the people it would surely be helpful to. =)

Clearly many people identify with this scenario. My mother died last year from kidney cancer and I was at the end of my first year in my PhD program. I was with my mother on the last night of her life. The next morning I had to attend my doctoral residency in another state. A few hours into my trip I received the call from my father that my mother died. I continued to the conference, informed my advisor about the situation, then returned to Atlanta, Georgia from Orlando, Flordia to attend the funeral. After the funeral, I returned to Orlando to continue my residency.
Like yourself, concentration was hard for me. I would advise you to tell your advisor and take some time off. You never get another mother. Spend as much time with her as you can. I hope the best for you and your family. May God guide you to what is best.

It's a different case but I was ill myself during a taught MSc at a British university. I was on a scholarship. Not only did the department give me a year off, they also gave me a complete new scholarship to start the whole course again.
It is always worth asking. If you are worried about your CV then you can explain that you took a year (or whatever period of time) out to look after a sick relative.  Unless you are dealing with truly unreasonable people then you are likely to receive help and sympathy.

Not telling about this problem will cause additional stress as you must then keep the real reasons why you aren't performing well hidden, you'll end up seeking unnatural remedies (e.g. trying to work harder when your mind and body tells you that you really can't do that anymore). Taking the initial step to start to talk about this with your advisor may be difficult, especially if you never have talked about other personal matters before, but as mentioned in all the other answers, it's something that you should do to prevent getting into trouble later.
As long as you don't talk about this, you could just as well have been at some university run by machines that have no understanding of this sort of a problem. But now your brain has adapted to this hypothetical situation as if it is reality. It is reserving a lot more energy than it would actually need to do.
So, just talk about it, your brain will then change the way it flags work related information. This will take away quite a bit of the stress you are experiencing and you may then find that you actually have a lot more energy than you thought you had. You can then decide a lot better on how much work you can do while taking care of your mother.

Deepest sympathies to hear of your families' troubles.
I was in my 5th year, ready to graduate (i was getting my PhD in Chemistry) and go on to my new postdoc at Caltech when my father was suddenly diagnosed with inoperable cancer. He had very little time and I left immediately. It was not a choice since there was no time whatsoever. However, mulling it over and worrying about really affected my work and everything thing else...yet I didn't have the inclination to discuss it with my colleagues and friends...and I certainly wasn't sure whether I should've told my adviser. I haven't read the other posts..even though I let my slide down in unproductive misery which helped nothing at all. I had one of the most enlightened, professional, and dedicated advisors in the country..without a doubt, he was and is till a hero of mine
In a weird way, I didn't have the heart to tell him i need to leave so I just kept performing sub-par work with no explanation at all.
After the funeral...it was too late to go back and say...this is why my work has suffered...I didn't have the guts to tell you". Regardless of how he would respond to that explanation...if you talk to your advisor, especially you committee members IN ADVANCE...then maybe her health with return, or after some time, you will be able to return.
I warn you...if you hide something this important from your advisor you are just damaging your psychology, performance, and emotions--and reputation..But being forthright NOW can not hurt you. It simply may make him disappointed, but he should also empathize and then you will have the option to return someday if you so choose
Do not hide important personal life events from your advisor. A little bit of bear about him getting upset is nothing compared to when everything comes to pass, he is told after the fact and no longer trusts you or thinks you are making excuses....by that point not only his anger, but your reputation among the entire faculty will be forever damaged.
That was my experience. Are you afraid of being "fired"? Are you thinking ignoring it will make it go away? You will do total damage to yourself and you will regret for many many years if not the rest of your life.

Thanks. I didn't have the heart of telling my advisor I wasn't sure what I was worrying about.. Anyway earlier I was mostly taking classes so we didn't interact much until about 3 months ago.. I hope it is not too late

As a PhD supervisor myself I always make it a point to know what is going on in my students' lives (at least as much as they are willing to share with me; I would never pry for information they would be unwilling to divulge), as I well know that family and personal matters can heavily influence one's ability to concentrate on research.
I can't speak for the relationship you have with your supervisor, but it seems to me that to make a PhD work you need to be able to be fairly open with your supervisor.  If he or she is stand-offish, too busy to see you except only briefly and occasionally, then look for another supervisor.  I have no truck with supervisors who are too self-important to spend time with their students.
I'm very sorry about your troubles, but as I say to students and lecturers in my area: family must come first.

You should make sure your PhD adviser knows what is going on in your life.
Part of their job is to direct you to relevant resources and understand the process. You may need to take a break from your studies to spend time with your mother and potentially, to grieve. many schools offer ways to do this without harming your academic standing. While the need to perform is important in Academia, the world is not so heartless. Turn to the people around you for help, while you can.

One point I'd like to add: you may want to think about some discrete way of proving that your mother is indeed ill. It would be nice to live in a world where that would not be necessary of course, but alas we do not live in that world. People may have doubts, and worse may not express them to avoid hurting your feelings, while it may still influence their opinion.
Perhaps it would be good to anticipate that eventuality by having, for instance, a letter from her oncologist or something like that which you could subtly use in your communication with your advisor and others. You could attach it without even referencing it at all, or just lightly refer to it with something like: "as you can see in the attached letter, my mother...".
It may seem tasteless and to be honest I think this is by no means essential, but it's something which could potentially smooth a painful process and therefore something you might consider, although it is also an entirely valid position to take that it should not be necessary.


text:
How to make lessons more concrete for undergraduate students when my institution lacks lab facilities?
I have question related to teaching.
I don't have facilities for doing real time applications for my undergraduate students related to automatic control design (like inverted pendulum), and the devices that we have are black box.
I am using MATLAB/SIMULINK, but this doesn't make sense for them.
Any recommendation to make automatic control more tangible and concrete?

Why not make a more graphical simulated environment inside of a web browser? All sorts of dynamical systems problems are prettified up and turned into browser games these days, whether in flash or JavaScript on HTML5.
If you make a simplified system, like an inverted pendulum, in a browser, then it can be nicely visual. If you give a set of manual controls in the program, then students can get a feel for it. With appropriate piping, you should then be able to hook it up to Matlab for them to control as a real-time system from there. You can also inject noise and control errors to bring more realism and prevent unstable solutions from working.
In short: our computers are powerful enough these days that a satisfying virtual lab is quite within reach.

Note that such a thing already exists (Google "virtual automatic control lab") - possibly not necessary to reinvent the wheel here.

Excellent! Do you have a link? I suspected such likely existed but didn't know an example myself.

Here's one such initiative among Spanish universities, another in Italy, something in German that seems relevant. (Some labs like these are simulated, some involve remote control of actual equipment.)


text:
Is it OK to review a manuscript written by an editor who handled (and accepted) one of your papers?
I have been invited to review a manuscript written by several authors. One of them has been the editor of one of my recently published papers. This is the only interaction I have ever had with the author of the manuscript.
Would it be OK for me to accept the review request?
While I personally do not see anything wrong with it, it might be the case that I am positively biased towards the paper, without realising it. Hence my question.
Bonus question: the journal adopts an open peer review system, where the reviews and the reviewers' names can be published alongside the paper. Shall I accept the review request, would it make sense to disclose my concern in the review I submit? Assuming that the paper gets accepted, of course.

I see no problem with accepting this review request.

I agree - who would want to become a journal editor if it meant nobody who published in the journal (presumably the editor's field) if the editor couldn't publish papers because nobody would review them?

Short answer: yes it is ok to accept the review.
Long answer: Yes, it is (still) ok to accept the review. If you can only review paper written by authors you have never ever interacted with, at some point in your career, you'll stop reviewing. Especially if you are working in a small field of research. For me, in your case, it is more than fine to accept the review. The question becomes more tricky if it is from someone you work(ed) with...
If you want to try out some really tricky reviewing scenario, try out this test: http://blogs.biomedcentral.com/bmcblog/2015/08/21/quiz-can-navigate-tricky-peer-review-scenarios/

Thanks for the link. So, there is not even the need to disclose this in the open public review.

Personally, I would not do it, but you still can if you want to be 200% transparent :)

Several institutes have detailed guidelines that clarify what is a conflict of interest and what is not. While it's hard to make hard rules that cover all the cases, it can be useful for a young researcher to see something like this to get a hang of what is considered appropriate.
For instance, the research grant program office of the university of California considers a person in COI if:

Is a close personal friend or family member of an applicant or grantee.
Is a recent (less than 5 years)
  employee/employer/mentor/student/teacher/co-worker of an
  applicant or grantee.
Serves as a volunteer for the applicant or grantee organization
  (volunteer staff member, committee member, advisor, or board
  member).
Serves as a paid or unpaid consultant for the applicant/grantee or
  applicant/grantee organization on other projects.
Is a co-investigator or research collaborator with an applicant or
  grantee.
Has co-authored scientific articles with an
  applicant/grantee/reviewer during the past five years.

I have seen similar rules in several other places, sometimes with the 5 year period reduced to 3, or with stricter defintions of "personal friend or family member".
As you can see, in your case the interaction with the author is very far from being in the danger zone.

So I repeat what I read in your post:

You published a paper XY to Journal A where John Doe handled your paper.
Josh Soe from Journal B asked you to review a paper ZZ by John Doe.

I don't see any reason why you couldn't do the review. Still, if you are in doubt, you can ask Josh Soe if he -- the editor -- sees it as a conflict. A short mail would do:

Dear Josh,
I'm ready to review the paper ZZ by John Doe. However, he was the editor of a paper I published in Journal A. Do you see it as a conflict of interest, or can I make the review nonetheless?
Best regards,

In the end it's more the journal's policy that matters than your point of view, as long as you are not being pushed into blatantly non-ethical behaviour you're not willing to do; but that's not the case here.

Dear downvoter, I would be grateful to know what I have done wrong. Thanks.


text:
Is it normal for an instructor to charge students to complete copyrighted homework?
I have a class in a US university that is using a 3rd-party site to charge students a fee to access some of the homework essential to the course. One of the instructors (not mine) holds the copyright to these required Excel spreadsheets, and so every student is being assessed a small fee in order to complete their homework.
With online classes using an ebook publisher's website, paying to be able to do homework is common practice. But that fee is usually assessed and disclosed as part of the textbook/ebook access fee. For this course, we are already paying such a fee for the ebook publisher's website.
Is it normal (or generally acceptable) for an instructor to create a privately-owned website in order to collect "copyright fees" from students because that instructor created original homework files? Is it normal for instructors to require students to pay to use intangible, intellectual property? Or, failing being a regular occurrence, does it at least happen with a high enough frequency to be a noticed, if not often used, practice?
We are explicitly being told the charge is for the use of the copyrighted materials and is a copyright fee, rather than a licensing or maintenance fee. I've never come across this or even heard of it being done before, so I call on the experience of those more grounded in academic norms.
This isn't a matter of purchasing supplies or textbook fees, as those are already assessed by the University or comply with University policy. The nature of the assignment and materials is also not so complex or technically difficult that assignments, or reasonable alternatives, could not be provided using existing University resources.

While I greatly appreciate the input of the SE community, I know that I also have ways to investigate this at my specific institution and am not using SE as a substitute for doing my own due diligence.

Related: Is it ethical to profit by having my students buy my textbook?

Related: Is it ethical for a lecturer to require students to purchase an online learning kit where kit is used for course assessments? (of course, that situation does not have the conflict of interest inherent in this one.)

@ff524 Correct. That question also seems to be about a online learning kit through an established ebook/elearning vendor, which is now a very common practice and is usually part of the textbook bundle. (In this course, I also have to purchase the ebook learning bundle through McGraw-Hill, so I'm already paying a fee of sorts to do the bulk of my homework).

You're obviously looking for someone to agree with you that it is uncommon (based on your question and comments to answers). I agree, it is uncommon for this exact scenario to occur. I also happen to find it at least marginally unethical, although I know that does not interest you.

@Dan My mind would be much more at ease if it was the general consensus that such a scenario (or similar scenario) were common practice. Then it'd just be a matter of me not having enough information, and my discomfort stemming from that. I'd really much rather not have this be a real issue

I've certainly never heard of such practice.  I know lots of examples of instructors hiding required course materials that they created behind a password, but not even one that requires additional payment beyond tuition.  But my experience is anecdote, not real data.

FFS America, as if textbooks and courses was not bad enough (UK here, horrified by this)

This seems extremely odd...however, we still had to buy textbooks in my day and kids these days seem to all pirate the pdf versions so maybe profs are doing this to make up the difference?

My first reaction here is : "Is this even legal?" ...

@Autar I'd have to ask that on law.se. But, I think the only possible legal issues here would be in regard to the FERPA laws regarding the storage and use of confidential student information. I've already contacted the proper university entity to get verification of their FERPA compliance.

This might (unfortunately) depend on the subject area. I can only speak from my experience that this is completely unheard of in mathematics and would be regarded as highly odious.

Not common.  But how do we document that?  Each of us is familiar with a small corner of the academic world.  //  It's not clear to me where you saw a possible FERPA connection.  Can you explain that part?

@aparente001 The website requests student information from me that's protected by FERPA and also stores certain grades.

@CreationEdge - Doesn't the instructor already have that information?  Also, I'm confused -- is the instructor revealing that protected information to anyone?  (My child suffered a FERPA violation once -- his teacher shouted across the classroom something embarrassing about his 504 plan and his health status, so I did some reading about FERPA.  Thanks in advance, I find this an interesting topic.)

I don't know if it's normal, it's not atleast in spain, where i've studied, but it's not only highly unethical to charge for extra material (books aside)  required to pass the course, but also dubious of that teacher's morals. If a teacher was trying to force me to PAY for HOMEWORK, i'd be filling a case on the education department by the lunch break. All my course materials, books included, have been written by my uni's teachers and are provided for free on digital format and for a small, single for the whole material group, 5 to 15€ printing charge if you wanted them phyisically.

I think that, at best, there is a conflict of interest for an instructor to force students to use a web service that charges money of which s/he gets a cut.
That said, are you sure that that's how it is? For textbooks -- where the same conflict of interest exists -- it is common practice at many universities that if a professor uses her own textbook for a class, that that part of the royalties that the professor receives through his own students' purchases actually goes into a university fund outside the professor's control. The same may in fact be the case at your university -- the professor may simply never have talked about the details in class.

I have had multiple classes where the textbook author is the instructor. That's understandable, and that information is provided up front: The instructor and textbook are disclosed before classes begin, and you may have the option to pick a different course. You may also be able to charge the textbook to your school bill. And, you may also be able to purchase the book secondhand. You're also getting something: a textbook. But, I'm not asking specifically about the ethics, but whether or not this is a common practice.

CreationEdge: I doubt it's common tight now... but I don't know how to prove that one way or the other without doing an industry survey study. Anything less is anecdote/opinion.

Indeed. I've never heard of such an arrangement. So I don't think it's "common", but I wouldn't know "how uncommon" it is.

The main point is that it seems that the only reason why the website is set up is to collect the fees, as it would be no problem to distribute them in another way. To me, this is a big difference to the charging for a paper copy scenario, where actually costs occur: If the instructor is not provided free printing facilities, then it would not be unreasonable to actually ask the students to pay the price he has paid to make the copies (in fact, I remember having paid such copy fees). If he does not do this for profit, but only in order not to have to pay the copy out of his own pocket, it's fine.
Charging when the instructor does not have any expenses (or could avoid them easily by using free university services), in contrast, would be unethical, I believe,

Whether or not it's fine, or related to costs, is this a normal practice?

At my high school and my university (both in Germany, 1990's and 2000's) we were charged a copy fee in some classes where we got a lot of copies (think of some euros per year), and I think it was not common in all classes, but definitly not unheard of. One should keep in mind, though, that tuition is/was free in Germany. So, at least in that country at that time, it was a quite normal practice.

Students at my university are assessed a technology fee than includes an allotment of page printing (thousands of pages), and overages are charged to our University bill. But that's for a physical supply, which this is not. We're being charged just to look at something and turn in an assignment. All things we could do with all of our already-paid-for resources. Is that normal?

I would not consider that normal, no. Not at all.

It feels even more unethical, given that the instructor probably wrote these exercises as part as his (already paid) job.

It is like charging students for handouts, which could include homework assignments, and also like charging students to acquire a mandatory textbook which contains homework assignments. Suppose that the institution had no printing / copying facilities available to the instructor (there are such places). Then you probably would not expect the instructor to provide free instructional materials, any more that you would expect the instructor to provide free sulfur if you were taking a chemistry lab class. So I think the web page matter does cloud the issue, or at least complicate it.
Since this involves a third party website, it is reasonable to assume that the copyright holder has some contractual duty to that company to provide revenue, that is, they probably get a percentage, and the copyright holder isn't allowed to give out free copies to his own students.
If indeed the author created his own company for distributing the materials and thus can set policy, he could in principle give his own students a free ride (and we would then expect a question about whether it is fair for an instructor to give free access to just his own students). So that could mean that it is possible for the author to make materials free to his own students; that does not mean that he is morally obligated to do so.
It seems to me the question boils down to the broader issue of whether an academician should profit from the sale of his intellectual creations to his students, or to any students. That's not the question that you asked, but if you agree that it is proper for a person to profit from the sale of his intellectual creations, then I think you would have to agree that that extends to sale to one's own students, and that the textbook / homework distinction is not material.

I don't think charging students for textbooks is at all like charging students for class-specific handouts. There are usually specific policies in place for textbook sales. Supplies, also, can usually be purchased from your choice of vendors. Regardless, we're not being charged for the supplies (students already pay fees for all sorts of technology issues, as well as being provided printing allotments and way to charge supplies directly to the university). This has been the explicit communication to us (it's strictly a copyright licensing fee, in their words).

Sounds fishy to me...having to pay a "copyright fee" to access required homework/classwork.   And, who is getting this fee??
I can understand buying a textbook, paying for copying/handouts (usually in my case, those were just the cost of making the copies), paying for supplies (for extra things or were included in the course's cost, e.g. an extra lab fee).  In those cases, you got a tangible product in your hand.  And, as was stated, you could buy new or used and via alternate vendors -- especially books.
Shouldn't that "fee" be included in a courses costs, not paid for by students directly?  If it's truly "necessary" for class, shouldn't it be part of the course's cost -- not an additional charge?
True, I've been out of school for many years...so the commonality of this I can't answer...but, it sounds rather odd.


text:
Should I acknowledge the source of a problem in a math assignment?
For a math assignment that I am giving my students, I have included a problem from Spivak Calculus. I have the following two issues and I do not know what I should do:

If I do not acknowledge the source, it seems that I have committed plagiarism.
And if I acknowledge the source, then the students will go and perhaps find the solution manual and give the same solution as in the solution manual.

Can anyone please discuss what is the best thing to do in my case?

I often assign "challenge" problems for my Calculus class that are drawn from Apostol (similar in difficulty, etc., to Spivak).  For the reasons you describe above, I prefer not to reveal the source of the problem.  My solution has been to label the problem as a challenge problem, and say that it comes from a classic (read: hard) textbook on Calculus when I assign the problem. However, I don't specify which textbook that is on the assignment.  After the problem set is due, I give the students the full reference.  Of course, my hope is that some of them found the problem interesting and will go look up more problems to challenge themselves.
I think this compromise works since you are not taking credit for creation of the problem, and do give acknowledgement.  Of course, with all of these students can find the answers through diligent searching, but I think raising the barrier even a little is a good idea.

Plagiarism is the act of claiming a another's written work as your own. You need not to feel of guilt as there is no actual 'plagiarism' involved in your problem.  You did not disclose the mathematical problem for personal credit (as @Rori explained) neither you claimed it as your own.
If your sample is defined as plagiarism, then more than half the world's exam paper compilers should be committing it everyday.