Less Than Full-Time Enrollment
All F-1 and J-1 students in a degree seeking program must be full-time throughout their time studying in the U.S. The most common exception to full-time enrollment is the summer semester.
The summer semester is a vacation semester for F-1 and J-1 students at Georgia State who are not admitted to begin classes in the summer. It is ONLY an optional semester for those students who intend to continue studying in the fall semester (students who complete their studies in the spring semester do not qualify for the summer vacation).
A student who feels that they need to enroll for less than full-time in a given semester MUST get prior authorization from the immigration advisor in International Services or their Responsible Officer. Failure to get prior authorization is a violation of the student’s visa status.
There are limited opportunities to be enrolled less than full-time and all situations require documentation from the student’s academic department or medical doctor before the authorization can be approved.
- Students who are completing a Master’s or Doctorate program with a thesis/dissertation requirement and are not enrolled while completing the thesis/dissertation will need to complete a Reduced Course Load form (for Graduate Thesis) and submit it to International Services by the beginning of each semester that they will be under enrolled.
- Undergraduate students may take less than 12 hours if they require less than twelve hours in order to complete their bachelor's degree. The Reduced Course Load form (for Undergrad & non-thesis) must be submitted before the beginning of the final semester and can only be obtained by meeting with an immigration advisor.
