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Student visas

Learn more about the F-1 or J-1 immigration status.

Home / Come to MU / Students / Enrollment guidelines

Enrollment guidelines

J-1: Student
F-1

International students in F-1 or J-1 nonimmigrant status must take enough credits each semester to maintain full-time enrollment status.

Minimum credit hours per semester

Students in lecture hall.
  • Undergraduate students: 12
  • Graduate students without assistantship: 9
  • Graduate students with assistantship: 6
  • Doctoral students who have passed comprehensive exams: Maintain continual doctoral enrollment (at least 2 credits in the fall and spring semesters and 1 credit in the summer sessions)

Exceptions

  • Individual departments and/or the Graduate School may require students to take more credits.
  • Enrollment as an auditor or hearer does not count toward full-time enrollment.
  • Enrollment in "exam credit" does not count toward full-time enrollment.
  • Incomplete courses continued into the following semester don't count toward full-time enrollment.

Immigration regulations allow for a reduced course load in the following situations:

  • Initial academic difficulties in a student’s first or second semester (one semester only).
  • Temporary illness or medical condition (one semester at a time, no longer than one year).
  • Final semester, if fewer courses are required to complete the degree.
  • After completion of required coursework for graduate students.

To request a reduced course load, submit a Reduced Course Load form to the International Center before dropping below the minimum credit requirements. Please refer to the enrollment guidelines chart for more information.

Summer session enrollment

  • International students who were enrolled at MU during the spring semester are not required to enroll during the summer semester. For example, if you were registered for classes in the spring 2010 semester, you would not have to register for classes during the summer 2010 session.
  • MU requires that doctoral students who have passed comprehensive exams take at least one credit during the summer. Refer to the Graduate School for more information.
  • If the summer session is a student’s first session at MU, the student must be enrolled full time during the summer semester:
    • A new graduate student must register for four credits during the summer.
    • A new undergraduate must enroll for six credits during the summer.

Online courses

  • Only three online credits may be counted toward a student’s full-time enrollment requirements. For example, if an undergraduate wants to take six credits online, he or she must also take nine credits in a classroom. The student will earn 15 credits, but only 12 will count toward immigration requirements.

Concurrent enrollment

  • Students may take classes at other schools while taking classes at MU.
  • At least 50 percent of a student’s classes must be at MU, except during the summer session.

The classes a student takes at another school will count toward the full-time enrollment requirement at MU as long as the student submits a Reduced Course Load form with confirmation of enrollment at the other school.