Info for Illinois Units & Staff
The information below is for campus units, departments, and staff at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to assist in their understanding of international exchange students and how to support them during their time at the university.
About International Exchange Students
What makes international exchange students different from degree-seeking international students?
International exchange students:
- Have a J-1 exchange visitor visa.
- Are admitted as non-degree students, typically at the undergraduate level, regardless of their current level of study at their home university.
- Are only studying on campus for 1 or 2 semesters (similar to a short-term studying abroad experience).
- Come to the university from a limited number of exchange partner universities.
- Receive a full tuition waiver and have many campus fees waived (specifically, international exchange students only pay Student Health Insurance, Health Services Fee, Transportation Fee, and International Student Services Fee).
- Are supported administratively by the college-based study abroad offices.
- Are not obligated to live in university housing while on campus but can choose to do so.
What makes them the same as degree-seeking international students?
International exchange students:
- Have access to all campus services.
- Must follow all guidelines related to maintaining immigration status.
- Are admitted to an academic college and assigned an academic advisor within that college to assist with course registration.
How can campus partners support exchange students?
Units may be periodically asked to join exchange student orientations. In advance of those events, please review the information above to ensure your presentation is applicable to this unique audience.
Who to contact
If you are unsure of who to contact about an international exchange student question, please contact the study abroad office of the students college:
- College of ACES: Ali Freter (freter1@illinois.edu)
- College of AHS: Andy Hinnant (ahinnant@illinois.edu)
- College of Education: Allison Witt (awitt1@illinois.edu)
- College of FAA: Rebecca Paez-Rodriguez (rp16@illinois.edu)
- Gies College of Business: Nicole Lamers (lamers@illinois.edu)
- Grainger College of Engineering: Kate Abney (kabney@illinois.edu)
- College of LAS: Kyle Schmude (kschmud2@illinois.edu)
- College of Media: Katie Clark (keclark@illinois.edu)
- iSchool: Joy Phaphouvaninh (joypha@illinois.eduu
- All other colleges: Andy Hinnant (ahinnant@illinois.edu)
For all immigration and visa-related questions, please encourage the student to contact International Student and Scholar Services (isss@illinois.edu).
