Maintaining Status
Maintaining your F-1 Student Status is essential for all international students. Whether students maintain their status will determine continued presence at Ensign College or in the U.S. In order for international students to maintain status, they should:
Be enrolled full-time (12 or more credits) each semester. 9 of these required 12 credits must be courses that require attendance at the college on a regular basis
Engage in authorized employment only
Successful progress toward completing their program within the established timeframe
Apply for changes such as transfers in a timely manner (allow for 2 business days for processing)
Maintain a 2.0 Grade Point Average (GPA)
A violation of the F-1 Student Status results in the student falling out of status. If students choose to engage in status-violating activities, the procedures and regulations established by Department of Homeland Security, USCIS and SEVP will be enforced. Status violating activities include but are not limited to the following:
- Staying in the country after the I-20 form has expired without having applied for a new program or transferring to another approved educational institution.
- Failure to maintain conditions of status, which include:
- Enrolling less than full-time without the authorization of the ISO - full time is 12 credits each semester
- Taking more than 9 credits of online courses as part of the 12 credits considered to be full-time
- Registering and attending a school other than Ensign College without proper authorization
- Stop attending classes and receiving a UW grade
- Late applications for transfers, program extensions, and/or OPT
- Unauthorized employment or putting employment ahead of their education
- Failure to maintain a 2.0 GPA for two semesters
Other types of violations, equally serious, are those related to the College’s Honor Code. In situations related to Honor Code violations and those of similar nature, the ISO will proceed according to the instructions received from the appropriate departments and individuals.