The study examined potential factors and attitudes associated with providing fraudulent academic claims. A total of 319 students completed an online survey which involved reading a vignette about an incomplete assignment. Participants reported whether they would contact their instructor to gain an extension, expressed their confidence in the believability of reasons for not completing an assignment, and answered questions about their attitudes toward academic excuse making. The results indicated that academic consequences of failing to turn in an assignment and communication medium did not affect the rate at which participants reported claims. Participants most commonly reported family emergency as a reason, and expressed higher confidence that the instructor would believe this reason if they or a classmate reported it. Furthermore, a survey about attitudes toward academic excuse making suggested that the belief that academic excuse making is not really a form of deception was associated with a greater likelihood of reporting a fraudulent claim, and that those who preferred email communication tended to endorse survey items that conveyed the ease of reporting academic excuses via email.