Student Resources and Policies

Summer 2025 Refund Tables

Fall 2025 Refund Tables

Level 90 (Gateway) students must also withdraw from their SFSU course in addition to withdrawing from the ALI-EAP. For withdrawal deadlines and tuition refund information for SFSU courses, see Open University Registration Policies.

Spring 2026 Refund Tables

Level 90 (Gateway) students must also withdraw from their SFSU course in addition to withdrawing from the ALI-EAP. For withdrawal deadlines and tuition refund information for SFSU courses, see Open University Registration Policies.

There are no premium refunds, except when the student withdraws from school and permanently returns to his or her home country before the Friday of the second week of the program.

Attending and participating in class are important for successful language learning. If a student misses class, the student is unable to practice and learn English and his/her grades will be affected.

American Language Institute (ALI) - English for Academic Preparation (EAP) Rules for Success

• ATTENDANCE: Attend all classes.
• BE ON TIME: Come to class on-time.
• FINISH TASKS: Complete all class and homework assignments on time and take all class tests.
• PARTICIPATE: Participate actively in class.
• COMMUNICATE: Talk to a teacher or advisor whenever there is a problem that slows down or stops learning.

In addition, ALI-EAP and the US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) rules require students to attend class full time on a regular, daily basis. Students are expected to arrive on time to each class, prepared for the day’s lesson.

USCIS requires students to be in school full time. This means that students need to have a good attendance record at the school at which they are attending. If a student has poor attendance record at the school, USCIS requires the school report the student’s attendance problem directly to them through its online SEVIS system. If a school reports to USCIS that the student has an attendance problem, then s/he will be out-of-status. Thereafter, the student would need to apply for reinstatement (asking USCIS to return his/her status back and to explain why s/he did not attend class full time) or do re-entry reinstatement. If USCIS denies the student’s reinstatement application, the student will need to leave the US.

Lateness

• Tardy means being late to class.
• If you are five (5) minutes late to class or leave class early, the teacher will mark you as tardy.
• After a class break, if you are five (5) minutes late to class the teacher will mark you as tardy.
• Being marked tardy three (3) times in the same class will count as being absent for one (1) hour.
• If you are late to class for more than 15 minutes, the teacher will mark you absent for the hour.

Poor Attendance

If an ALI-EAP student has poor attendance, several steps could happen:

Academic Notice

A student on academic notice must attend their ALI-EAP class daily. Students who do not attend daily and do not have a doctor’s (from a medical doctor, M.D.) note for their absences will be:

• terminated in SEVIS. This means that the student will lose their F-1 visa status and must apply for reinstatement or do re-entry reinstatement and may have difficulty transferring to another school.
• dismissed from the ALI-EAP.
• unable to study at the ALI-EAP next semester or the following semester.
• unable to take ALI-EAP’s TOEFL test(s) and use the ALI-EAP TOEFL for SFSU admission.

First Day of Class Attendance

All students MUST attend the first day of classes for each semester they are enrolled in.

Absense for Medical Reasons

Short Term:

• A student who is sick (or has a medical issue) for more than three continuous days is required to see a doctor, and bring a doctor’s note (from a medical doctor, M.D.) to the CGE office.
• Students are responsible for all missed assignments, quizzes, and tests and are required to contact each of their teachers directly.

Long Term:

• A student with a continual illness (or medical issue) must bring a doctor’s note (from a medical doctor, M.D.) for the days they are absent to the CGE office (Science and Engineering Innovation Center, 5th Floor) or globaled@sfsu.edu.
• If absences continue beyond 15 hours, students will have to meet with a CGE Advisor. The student may be asked to:
  • be on a medical leave.
  • return to his home country
  • If the student continues to miss class without a doctor’s note (from a medical doctor, M.D.), the student’s I-20 will be terminated in SEVIS (Immigration’s online system). This means that the student will lose his F-1 visa status and must do reinstatement.

Absence for Business

If you need to be absent for two or more days, you must speak to an advisor at least one week before you plan to be absent. The ALI-EAP may or may not allow the absence.

Religious Holidays

The ALI-EAP instructors will make reasonable assistance to students who wish to observe religious holidays when such observances require students to be absent from class. It is the student’s responsibility to contact their ALI-EAP teachers in writing letting him or her know that they will miss class due to the specific religious holiday. The ALI-EAP instructor will make every effort to honor the student request without penalty and of the student to make up the work missed.

Missed Classwork and Homework

It is the student’s responsibility to learn what homework and class assignments were missed due to any absence. Each ALI-EAP teacher will have policies for communication with students and classmates.

Class Field Trips

Class field trips are required academic events that students must attend. Field trips are related to the student’s coursework.

ALI-EAP students will have both a Midterm and Final examination or assignment in every class. These exams help students see the progress you have made in your English studies.

There are no make-ups for missed Midterm and Final examinations and assignments (for example: oral presentations). If you miss an examination, you will earn a zero (Ø) for the missed examination which will be averaged into your grade for the class. You will not be able to ask your teacher to take your test after you missed taking your test.

You will receive a letter grade for each class and this is what each letter grades means:

Class Level Progress

Normally, a student will continue to the next highest level if final grades and attendance are satisfactory.
Passing grades are: A, B and C. Non-passing grades are: D and F. Sometimes a student who attends class continually and does all the class work still has trouble passing his classes. If the student passes his classes, the student can then move up to the next level for the following semester. If a student does not pass all of his classes, then the student will have to repeat his ALI-EAP classes in the same level for the following semester.

Class Level Progress for Repeated Classes

A student who is repeating a level must pass his classes the second time studying in that level. If the student passes his repeated classes, the student can then move up to the next level for the following semester. If a student does not pass all of his repeated classes, then he will not be able to return to the ALI-EAP for the following semester. ALI-EAP levels can only be repeated once.

ALI-EAP classrooms are safe places for learning. This means that ALI-EAP students need to be polite and respectful to each other and to their teachers. It is your responsibility to help keep our classroom a safe place to learn English and to share ideas. ALI-EAP will dismiss any student who acts in a way that is harmful or threatening.

In the end of an ALI-EAP semester, students who have followed ALI-EAP classroom and SFSU policies may register for the next semester for further study at the ALI-EAP. Contact globaled@sfsu.edu for details.

To drop a class prior to the Student Drop Deadline, please email globaled@sfsu.edu at least 1 business day prior to the drop deadline. Please include your full name, SFSU ID, course name/# of course you wish to drop. It is your responsibility to request to drop by the deadline to be eligible for a full refund. Please note, if you are an international student, you must maintain full time enrollment, see Maintaining Status for details. Drops after the drop deadline are considered course withdrawals, please review the Withdrawal Policy below.

To add a class after the semester has begun, please email globaled@sfsu.edu at least 1 business day prior to the Student Drop Deadline. Please include your full name, SFSU ID, course name/number of course you wish to add and an explanation of how you have fulfilled the pre-requisites. Depending on the course and date requested a permission number may be required. Please see Dates and Deadlines for details. Please email globaled@sfsu.edu for any questions.

To enroll in a class after the Add/Drop Deadline (see the Student Drop Deadline for these deadlines), you must complete the Petition for Late Add form. Once signed by all necessary parties and completed, submit the form to globaled@sfsu.edu.

Students wishing to withdraw from courses after the Drop Deadline should contact CGE at  and discuss the reason for the withdrawal and its implications prior to taking any action. After the Drop Deadline, students will receive a grade of "W". Processes for withdrawal will depend on course type (Open University or CPaGE) and length (semester length or shorter). Please note, if you are an international student, you must maintain full time enrollment, see Maintaining Status for details.

If you plan to drop a class and receive a refund, please reach out to the CGE office at globaled@sfsu.edu. Please note that all refund requests must be received by the Add/Drop Deadline (please see the SFSU Calendar and Deadlines page for the specific date). A $20 processing fee applies to all refunds of paid tuition charges for each class dropped.

In the case of third-party payment, the party responsible for payments should send an Authorization to Bill letter to cgeadmin@sfsu.edu. SFSU will send invoices to third party after census date. All tuition and fees will appear on the student center until payment is processed/received.

For class or program withdrawal, contact the Center for Global Engagement at globaled@sfsu.edu at least 24 hours before the final drop deadline to ensure the drop is processed on time.

Optional fees are non-refundable.

Grading Information is outlined in the SFSU Academic Bulletin. Some classes may be taken for a letter grade or on a credit/no credit basis, where you earn either a CR (credit) or a NC (no credit) grade. Classes with grades or CR or NC are not included in your GPA calculation. Letter grades are included in your GPA. International students must always confirm with their home universities that taking a class on a credit/no credit basis will be acceptable. Please also note that not all classes have this option available and there are limits on the number of courses that may be taken CR/NC. Instructions on how to modify your grading option for any eligible course are available on the Registering for Classes Guides under “How to View or Change Grade Option.”

Students enrolled in CGE programs will receive an email after admission containing a Course Request form. This form must be completed by the deadline indicated to ensure CPaGE staff have sufficient time to secure courses for the student. All course requests must be reviewed by CPaGE staff and CPaGE staff will manually enroll students in their courses. Please note that successful enrollment in courses depends upon whether students have satisfied all prerequisites and seats are available. For course registration questions, please contact globaled@sfsu.edu.

As you are enrolled in classes at SFSU, tuition and fees will be posted to your student account. You may get automatic emails about enrollment and payment. 

For students from partners:

• Please confirm with your university/agency who is responsible for which fees payment (tuition, housing, additional course fees, other non-tuition fees).
• If your home university/agency will handle payment, SFSU will invoice your university/agency directly. Fees will still show on your student account.
• For students from partners who will self-pay all or part of their tuition. Please DO NOT pay tuition and fees until notified (email will be from globaled@sfsu.edu). CGE will notify you once all tuition and fees are posted so that you can make 1 payment.

For individual students, please follow payment instructions in the emails received. You will need to pay for course tuition upon enrollment, or you will be dropped. You will be billed for mandatory course fees after the Census date.

Tuition and fees for the semester depends on the number of units enrolled. International students must maintain full-time enrollment, see Maintaining Status for details.

The university is committed to maintaining a safe and healthy living and learning environment for students, faculty and staff. Each member of the campus community should choose behaviors that contribute to this end. Students are expected to be good citizens and to engage in responsible behaviors that reflect well upon their university, to be civil to one another and others in the campus community and contribute positively to student and university life. Expectations for respectable student conduct can be found on the Student Conduct page. Be aware that a student’s inability to uphold these standards of conduct may result in disciplinary action, and in some cases, dismissal from a CPaGE program. Furthermore, each student is expected to adhere to the academic rules outlined in their course syllabi.