Graduate and Professional Admissions (GPA)
GPA Newsletter - January 2008
Topics in this issue:
GPA Services
- ApplyYourself application management
- Application fee processing and fee waiver review
- International credential evaluations
- Limited status admissions review
- International and domestic admission processing
- SEVIS processing
- Financial documentation evaluations
Admissions Information
Online Program Admissions:
- If admitting an international student to an online program, here are a few guidelines to remember:
- An international student verification form is not required. However, we do require either an email confirmation that the student will not enter the U.S. during his/her studies or a copy of their current non-student visa and an email confirmation that they will remain on this visa for the duration of their studies.
- A TOEFL or IELTS score is required. If the student scores less than required for full status admission, we will need departmental support for a full status admission in order to admit.
- Visa eligibility documents (I-20 and DS-2019) cannot be issued for students in online programs. Please note that this also means that we will not require proof of funding for these students.
Non-Degree International Admissions:
- Please remember that international applicants can only be admitted to a non-degree program if they are currently on a non-student visa (and will remain so for the duration of their studies) or if they are coming on a valid exchange agreement.
Re-Entry Graduate Students:
- We have received a high number of inquiries regarding previously enrolled UIUC graduate students wanting to return to the Graduate College. These returning students are often unsure if they need to go through the application process again or if there is another way. The Graduate College policy is that returning graduate students are not required to go through the application process, but rather petition for re-entry. Because of SEVIS regulations, policies concerning leaves for domestic students are different from policies for international students. Domestic students will need to petition for re-entry after an absence of 1 calendar year (spring and fall semesters), while international students are required to petition after an absence of 1 (spring or fall) semester. Please refer to the following website for further information on petitioning for re-entry:
www.grad.uiuc.edu/admissions/petition_instruct.cfm.
If you have questions regarding the re-entry process, please contact Graduate Student Academic Services at gradacserv@uiuc.edu.
Fellowship Tuition Waiver Policy:
- On January 8, 2008, Dean Wheeler sent the following announcement to Directors of Graduate Study regarding the Fellowship Waiver Policy:
The University has been engaged in a review of the tuition waiver policy and practices. As you know, the past practice has been for the campus to approve a full waiver for students coming to the University with external support of at least $6,000 per year (such as Fulbright fellows). However, University policy allows for the granting of waivers to students coming with external sponsorship only in cases where the award has no funding for tuition and fees. This means that our practice of granting full waivers has been inconsistent with our policy, and we are now taking action to bring the practice into compliance with policy. This change in practice will not mean any additional expense for students with Fulbright or other external fellowships. As with current Fulbright fellows, incoming students with Fulbright support will have their tuition fully covered. For some students, the Fulbright program will either pay the tuition bill or provide an institutional allowance payment in lieu of tuition. For students in those few Fulbright programs with no funding for tuition, the University will provide a waiver as before. The Graduate College has contacted the program officers for the various Fulbright programs to inform them of our policy and the University's intent to bill, when appropriate, for the tuition and mandatory fees for 2008-2009, including for those fellows with continuing awards. We expect to gather more information about the various programs, which will help us determine which of the programs are eligible under the policy for their students to receive waivers and which programs will provide full payment or provide an institutional allowance. As you are entering your 2008-2009 admissions and award cycle, we ask that your communication with students and external sponsors reflect the policy. You may comfortably assure students with external fellowship support of at least $6,000 that their tuition will be fully covered, but please do not assure students that the University will offer them a full waiver. While the majority of students coming with external support are Fulbright fellows, the policy will be applied in all cases of students coming with external fellowships. Of course, if the University has a signed agreement with a sponsor to provide a waiver, that agreement will be honored.
The Graduate College will be happy to provide further information or respond to questions you may have and will certainly share information as we progress in our discussions with the Fulbright program officers. If you receive inquiries from Fulbright Fellows (or other students with external sponsorship) or Fulbright program staff regarding tuition waivers, please refer them to Assistant Dean Deborah Richie. Dean Richie can be reached at drichie@uiuc.edu or 333-0036.
Admissions Spotlight
Notice of Admission Letters:
- As you know, currently we send electronic notice of admission letters to all admitted domestic students and we have been sending electronic notice of admission letters as well as mailing paper letters to our international students.
After a full review in the Graduate College and in consultation with International Student and Scholar Services, I am pleased to announce that we will be sending only electronic notice of admission letters to both domestic and international students, beginning with the Summer 2008 admission cycle.
Please note that we have confirmed that a notice of admission letter is not required from, nor requested of, international students when applying for the visa or at the port of entry. Implementing this change will help us compete for acceptance of admissions offers, as it will increase the efficiency of our admissions process.
We will continue to contact you via email as electronic notice of admission letters are complete. We will also contact you via email when I-20s are ready to be picked up. Please note that since we are no longer providing paper admission letters, we do not plan to provide envelopes with the I-20s. After discussing this process with the Graduate College Administrative Advisory Group (AAG), we found that department representatives supported this change since most I-20s are sent via Fed Ex, DHL, or another form of express mail that does not require a Graduate College envelope.
If you have questions regarding this change, please email Elizabeth Kibler at bkibler@uiuc.edu.
ApplyYourself Quick Facts
Deadlines:
- We have received many requests for program deadline changes this month. Please note that when you choose a deadline date, it goes into effect at 11:00 p.m. on the day prior. As an example, if you set your deadline as 2/2/2008, your program will no longer be available in the online application after 11:00 p.m. on 2/1/2008.
Training:
- Do you need to obtain access to ApplyYourself? Do you need to change a program deadline date? Do you need ApplyYourself training? - If yes, to one or all three, please contact our office at gradadmissions@uiuc.edu.
