This article reviews the process of initiating and processing a Change of Level for a student who is moving from one degree level to another. The Change of Level process uses the new degree level request that is an out-of-the-box request with standard SEVIS-Mapped questions. Any additional questions or components can be added by the ISSS Admin to the request by going to the Request Configuration page.
This article covers the following topics:
Processing a Change of Level
To begin a Change of Level process, navigate to the intended student's profile. On the Request tab of the student profile, click the “plus” button in the Pending Request section and select New Degree Level.
The New Degree Level modal will appear, allowing the ISSS Admin to complete the questionnaire for the new degree level. If there are any questionnaires or assessments assigned to the student to complete as part of the Change of Level process, the student must complete and submit those items before the request can be completed. Email modals will appear allowing the ISSS Admin to email the student directly to notify them of any pending action items to be completed by the student, or to inform the student of the status of the request.
After completing the Change of Level questionnaire, you may either Save, Submit, or Approve Changes. When clicking Approve Changes, the options on the request are:
- Approve and Post to RTI
- Approve and Create New Batch
- Approve and Assign to Batch
Make sure to check the box next to Return Document if you wish to return a copy of the new I-20 via batching.
Note: Currently, Changes of Level can only be initiated by administrators through the Requests tab of the Student Profile or by students via their Control Center. ISSS Student does not support initiating Change of Level requests from the Student Request List at this time. Changes in Education Level may appear in the Student Request List as “Program Edits,” but processing these will not trigger a New Degree Level request in ISSS Student or send to SEVIS as changes of level. Administrators can use such events as an alert that they may need to initiate a change of level for a student, but are advised to ultimately Dismiss or Snooze changes to Education Level that appear on the Student Request List at this time.
Templates
When reviewing/initiating a change of level request for F-1 students, admins now have the option to apply a template that will override or respect the student's submission to the "New Degree Level" request.
To see this feature in action, locate a record with a "New Degree Level" request, or initiate the request on an applicable record:
Next, select the request and select Apply Template:
Selecting Apply Template will initiate the Template Search modal:
Note: Templates must be pre-created by an admin. F-1 templates can be populated by navigating to Configuration > Templates > F-1.
The Template Search modal will prompt the admin to select from a list of existing F-1 templates, and then indicate whether the template values or the existing request response values should take precedence. If the Request Values radio button is selected, the template's values will only apply to the blank fields. If the Template Values radio button is selected, the template's values will be applied to all fields. Null template values will override existing request response values.
Navigating Between Profiles for Change of Level Students
Once the Change of Level has been processed, the student will have two profiles: their current Active profile for the program they are currently in and a new, Initial profile for their new degree level. In the Student List, when searching for the student, only the Active profile will display in the list.
Both profiles will also display a university icon on the lower right side of the header indicating that the student was approved for a Change of Level.
To access the new degree-level profile, navigate to the student's current profile. In the upper right corner, click on three verticle dots to display the Go to Change of Level option and click on it. This will take the Admin to the Initial profile.
To return to the current Active profile from the Initial record, click the three verticle dots in the upper right corner of the header to display the on the Go to Active Profile option and click on it. This will return the ISSS Admin to the Active profile.
ISSS Admins can also access the two profiles from the Profile History located under the History tab. While in the Profile History of the Active record, a link for the second profile will appear, displaying the Student Name as a clickable link, Education Level, Creation Date, Program Start and End Dates, Sevis Status, and Visa Status. The Profile History in the second record will similarly display this information for the first record.
Students have similar capability to navigate between their two profiles in their Student Portal.
Once the Change of Level is processed, students will see a Change Degree Level button in the top right corner of their Portal. If on the current Active record, clicking this button will display the option New Degree Level, allowing the student to switch to their new Initial profile. To return from the Initial profile to the Active one, students will click the same button and see Active Degree Level as the option.
Once the record for the original degree level has been completed and the record for the second degree level has been registered in SEVIS, the second record will appear as the Active record in Student List searches. The profile for the previous record will still be accessible via the functionality described above.