International Students

Vacation Term

PCC offers courses during four terms per year: Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer. An F-1 international student is required to study full-time (12 credits) for at least 3 terms in a year. One term per year can be taken as a vacation term, during which students are not required to be enrolled full-time. A vacation term is usually taken during the Summer term.

Eligibility

You are eligible for a vacation term after having studied full-time for 3 consecutive (one after the other) terms.

If you arrived at PCC in initial status in Winter or Spring terms, you may be allowed to take Summer as a vacation term if you register for the following Fall term.

Procedure

  1. Submit the SEVIS Request Form if you want to take a vacation term during any term other than Summer (for example: Fall, Winter, or Spring terms).
  2. The SEVIS Coordinator will review your request and determine if you are eligible.
  3. When your request is processed, the SEVIS Coordinator will email you.

If you are approved for a vacation term, you submit read, sign, and submit the Informed Consent (sent to your PCC email).

Deadline

The SEVIS Request Form must be submitted no later than the last day to add classes of the current term in which you are requesting a vacation.

Vacation term requests are permitted as long as you are maintaining status up until the time the vacation term is requested.

Additional Information

During a vacation term, a student:

  • must pay for health insurance
  • must return to study at PCC the following term
  • can travel within the U.S. or abroad
  • can study at PCC or another school
  • are not required to take any in-person courses
  • can work on-campus more than 20 hours per week

After a student takes a vacation term, the student will not be eligible for a vacation term until after studying full-time for another 3 consecutive terms.

Vacation terms cannot be:

  • saved and taken later
  • taken for 2 consecutive terms
  • taken before transferring to another school
  • taken after graduation

This page is maintained by the OISS SEVIS Team.