US Telugu students opting for transfers to other varsities

The stalemate on the future of the students enrolled in the Herguan University in Sunnyvale, California continues leaving many of them to think of applying for transfers to other universities in the United States.

Of the 450 students enrolled in the university, nearly 400 hail from Andhra Pradesh and have been in touch with various US Telugu students’ organisations to seek guidance on the alternatives available.

“Many students from the campus have requested us to help them out with transfers to other US universities,” said Mohana Krishna, joint secretary of the North America Telugu Society.

The Herguan university website, however, announces the commencement of classes despite the row. It says, “Our University is open and conducting classes as usual. The charges against the DSO (Designated School Official), who has resigned, will not affect the schedule of classes in the university.”

Most of the students had sought admissions to genuine universities and procured I-20 for their course of study in US but had later sought transfers to the Herguan university to work on their F1-visa while pursuing their study by taking multiple online courses, which is in violation of their student visa norms.

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) website announced that the students have only two options: Continue attending the classes or continue working for which they were authorized and maintain their active status without any violation of regulations get transferred to any another SEVP-certified institution.”

“Most of the Telugu students had sought transfers from other schools. Though we can help them in securing a transfer to other universities, it is unlikely that their credits will be accepted by these institutes,” says K. Ashok Babu, a member of Murray State University Indian Students Association.

The period of study and semesters completed by the students at the sham university might not be counted as valid by other universities and they have to start their courses afresh.  As in the case of North Virginia at Annandale, the students at Herguan will have around a fortnight to take a final decision.