HYDERABAD: Though they have been accepted via student transfer to other universities in the US, the 29 students of the tainted Tri -Valley University (TVU), all hailing from Andhra Pradesh, are still trying to get their life back on track. But even before the message that such bogus for-profit varsities exist in US had sunk in, the July 29 raid at University of Northern Virginia at Annandale put many more students from the state in a limbo. This has prompted an array of outreach programmes from India and US to choose their alma mater with care.“It is our humble request to students from the state to run a background check on the licensing of the universities they are applying to,” says Prasad Thotakura, president of Telugu Association of North America (TANA) who was on a visit to Hyderabad. After the crackdown at UNVA, the organization has been involved in addressing students’ concerns. Students can inquire about the potential choice of universities at [email protected] or [email protected] . While some students of final semester at UNVA continue to pursue their education there, many have opted for transfers within US to recognized universities for completion of their courses. “Close to 30 to 40 per cent students have been accepted for internal transfers but in most of the cases, they will have to start from scratch as the universities are unwilling to consider the credits completed by the students at UNVA,” says Satish Vemana, treasurer of TANA. Some of the universities which have taken in students of UNVA are University of Southern Mississippi, Concord University in West Virginia, Murray State University and The University of South Dakota, San Diego. Out of the 2,400 students at UNVA, 1,800 hail from the state.The month long deadline for UNVA’s rebuttal for issuing 2000 plus I-20s when it was authorized to issue only 50 has come to an end. The university officials could not give a rejoinder as most of the documents were confiscated by the government. “The good news for UNVA is that the documents have been returned by ICE and there is no deadline for filing in their explanation anymore,” explains Satish Vemana. Meanwhile, classes at UNVA are in progress and some final year students have been receiving their Optional Practical Training permits which allows international students on F-1 visa to work in occupations related to their field of study, making them eligible for a 17-month visa extension.
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