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NEWS: International students at colleges that remain fully online this fall will not be able to take classes and remain in the U.S. But students will be allowed to take a mix of online and in-person classes, according to new government guidance https://www.ice.gov/doclib/sevis/pdf/bcm2007-01.pdf
Students attending colleges that are entirely online this fall must either leave the country or transfer to another institution in order to maintain their student-visa status
But the regulatory guidance lifts the prohibition against international students taking more than one online course. Students will be permitted to take "the minimum number of online classes required to make normal progress in their degree
program"
program"
Colleges will have to certify that students are not taking an entirely online courseload or that their academic program is not wholly online
The regs: "Only students enrolled at a school that is only
offering online coursework can engage in remote learning from their home country." I read that to mean that students at colleges with a hybrid model cannot take a full courseload of online classes
offering online coursework can engage in remote learning from their home country." I read that to mean that students at colleges with a hybrid model cannot take a full courseload of online classes
This provision could force colleges' hand: Colleges that plan to offer fully online courses this fall must submit an operational change plan to the U.S. government by **July 15.** Those that will be in-person or hybrid have until August 1
Colleges and international students were seeking more certainty for the fall semester, but I think today's guidance isn't exactly what they were hoping for
The guidance introduces A LOT of wrinkles. For example, in the wake of the pandemic, as many as 9 of 10 current international students stayed in the U.S. If their colleges operate online this fall, they will not be able to take online classes — unlike their American classmates
It also means that international students with health and safety concerns will still have to take at least some in-person classes in order to maintain visa status if their college is offering hybrid instruction
Will today's guidance swing colleges' decisions about offering F2F or hybrid courses? Given the impact of international students' tuition revenue, you'd have to think they will take the new rules in account in their decisionmaking about reopening campuses this fall
Some unanswered questions:
• What happens to international students if colleges have to pivot from F2F or hybrid to fully online mid-semester?
• How is "the minimum number of online classes required to make normal progress in [a student's] degree program" defined?
• What happens to international students if colleges have to pivot from F2F or hybrid to fully online mid-semester?
• How is "the minimum number of online classes required to make normal progress in [a student's] degree program" defined?
I've also got questions about this provision. As several readers have pointed out, colleges have always been able to set institutional policy about students from overseas taking online classes. I read this to mean that students' VISA STATUS would be affected
