Hybrid Delivery of Classes

Frequently Asked Questions

The following FAQs provide information we hope your, our incoming students, will find helpful as you prepare for classes in Spring 2021. Our responses reflect current local public health conditions as of the time of this posting, but may change. These policies only apply to Heinz College incoming students and not to other parts of CMU. We commit to sharing information with you on a regular basis and working with you to address any questions you may have to the best of our ability. We look forward to seeing you in person at CMU.

• With all of the uncertainties surrounding travel, social distancing, and public health measures, how can I be kept up to date on how the CMU/Heinz College Spring 2021 semester will roll-out?
  We are committed to keeping you informed throughout the summer in a timely, transparent, and accurate manner. We will be updating this webpage and others in the admitted student portal as we gain more information. Websites will be updated, emails will be sent, and webinars will be offered in a manner that supports participation from multiple time zones. You can also reach out to our admissions team and your individual program director with questions.
   
• What safety protocols are being implemented to make sure that students, faculty and staff are safe?
  The health and safety of our community remains our number one priority. In addition to following guidance from local and state health officials, CMU is:
  • Adhering to health and safety practices, including use of facial coverings, disinfection of surfaces, and testing and tracing protocols.
  • Reconfiguring classrooms, learning spaces, and common areas to support physical distancing.
  • Making arrangements to reduce density of in-person classes, including small class sizes and moving some courses, including larger lecture courses, to remote instruction only.
  • Striving for a consistently high quality experience across both in-person and remote learning environments.
  • Re-imagining countless other facets of our operations – across instruction and research, as well as student services.
     
• Can I get reduced tuition if I am taking classes remotely?
  The tuition is the same for all modes of delivery of the educational experience. While there are differences between on-site vs. distance learning, we are committed to more than just an online learning environment under the hybrid model. CMU is a world leader in teaching innovation and the science of learning. That campus-wide expertise—led by the Simon Initiative—enables us to maintain academic excellence no matter our mode of delivery.
  
  For our part, Heinz College has an established reputation in supporting remote learning in both graduate school and executive education contexts.
   
• Can we extend our term of education so that we graduate in the following semester than is established with our Heinz College masters’ program?
  For international students, current U.S. visa policies do not allow for you to extend your graduation date except under severe health or academic hardship. In those extreme cases, new immigration paperwork needs to be filled out and requires approval by relevant government authorities. For students with U.S. residency, you can extend your stay if you have not met graduation requirements and are able to pay another semester’s tuition. However, extension should not be counted on by international students and is not recommended for students with U.S. residency.
   
• For international students only:
  If I am unable to complete the immigration process, if there are travel restrictions, or, if I have concerns that prevent me from arriving in Pittsburgh by February 1, how will that impact my visa status and by ability to obtain a U.S.-based internship or full-time employment?
  CMU and Heinz College will offer remote delivery of all of our classes for Spring 2021 for students unable or unwilling to study in-person beginning February 1, 2021.
  
  Note: for our non-U.S. citizens, your OPT and CPT rights will not be impacted by studying remotely in your first semester. You will be able to search for U.S.-based internships and full-time employment in keeping with current regulations. However, a second semester of remote study can impact your CPT eligibility and could impact OPT if you are in a 3-semester program. See next question for more details. Please direct any questions pertaining to I20 and visa documents to David Eber at deber@andrew.cmu.edu. In addition, we will have a full slate of career services activities (resume reviews, job fairs, training sessions, advisor meetings) available to you regardless of modality. The Spring semester is the normal timeline for our students to apply for their summer internships, so you will be working with Career Services even before classes begin.
   
  • For international students in the MISM and MISM-BIDA program only:
    MISM and MISM-BIDA Fall 2020 Slow Starts - CLICK HERE for more details
    MISM and MISM-BIDA Spring 2021 Slow Starts - CLICK HERE for more details
     
• How will courses be offered to students not on campus?
  For students who are taking courses remotely, they will be engaging in a mix of synchronous and asynchronous coursework to accommodate global time zones. Professors and Teaching Assistants will designate real-time office hours with remote students.
   
• What are the assessments/exams going to look like?
  As was done in the Spring 2020 and Fall 2020 semesters, exams and quizzes will be administered online for remote students. To ensure the academic integrity with online assessments, most faculty will be utilizing remote monitoring software.
   
• If there is a resurgence of the virus and CMU is forced to close in Spring 2021, what will happen?
  If this happens, as we did in Spring 2020, we will move all courses to an online delivery mode. We had great success with this approach and expect a minimal impact on teaching and learning. Any student who would not want to continue in this fashion would be given the option to take a leave of absence.
   
• What is the latest date for an international student to join in-person classes for the spring 2021 semester?
  We would welcome to campus any student able to study in-person, however, for international students, if a student cannot make it to campus until after February 12, it will be too late for you to enter for spring 2021 and you should plan for an entry date for the following semester instead. You will need a new I-20 for this future semester entry date. We are still developing a procedure for students who will need an updated I-20 for a future semester (May 2021 or August 2021) entry into the United States. There will likely be different procedures depending on whether a student defers their admission to a future semester or if they enroll in fall 2020 and begin their studies remotely. More information will be provided as it becomes available.
   
• If I am unable to attend Carnegie Mellon University this semester and I defer my admissions, will you issue a new I-20 to me? If that is the case, will my SEVIS number remain the same?
  If you defer your admissions,  the Office of International Education (OIE) is able defer your I-20 start date to reflect the semester when you will be starting your degree program in the United States.  The SEVIS ID will remain the same.  You can contact OIE in September for an updated I-20.
   
• If I pay my SEVIS fee and later receive an I-20 with a different SEVIS number, do I need to pay my SEVIS fee again? If not, can I transfer my SEVIS fee from the old SEVIS number to the new one? Also, do I need to transfer the SEVIS fee within a particular time period?
  Please see the U.S. government website pertaining to this matter: https://www.ice.gov/sevis/i901/faq#_Toc81222002.  See ‘How do I ask SEVP to transfer the I-901 SEVIS Fee payment information from one SEVIS ID number to another?’
   
• Will campus be open for students this semester?
  CMU is committed to providing a safe and welcoming environment for our students. As such, the CMU campus will be open for the Spring 2021 semester with modifications to support the health and safety of our community. We will continue to work closely with—and follow guidance from—state and local health officials. Their guidance will be used to establish how the campus community will be able to engage in-person in the fall. In addition to following guidance from local and state health officials. For more information on safety protocols that are being implemented to make sure that students, faculty and staff are safe, please see the related question above.
   
• What will the process of getting internships look like? This is a key component for international students.
  The internship is a curricular requirement. Our Career Services Office will be actively involved in preparing students for their internship search and also connecting students with potential employers. Career Services support will be offered both in-person and virtually. After completing one semester on campus, international students will be eligible for Curricular Practical Training (CPT). We have a robust network of alums and past employers to tap for these internships.
   
• When will we know which courses are being offered for Spring 2021, and in what modality these courses will be delivered?
  Our Spring 2021 course schedule is currently posted. While the timing of the classes may change, the course offerings will not. We are in the middle of the process for determining course delivery modalities. We will share information with you as soon as appropriate.
   
• If I am not moving to Pittsburgh for the Fall 2020 or Spring 2021 semester, do I need to request a health insurance waiver for Fall 2020 or Spring 2021?
  For 2020-2021 due to COVID-19:
  - Waivers will need to be submitted twice: Fall 2020 and Spring 2021, anticipating that student residential locations could change from one semester to the next.
  - Only students physically located in the U.S. are subject to the insurance requirement.
  - Students located outside of the U.S. taking classes remotely are not subject to CMU’s health insurance requirement and will not be required to submit a waiver.
  For more information, please visit the Student Health Services website.
   
• How would the cost of health insurance change if a student studies remotely? Will health insurance cover COVID-19? And if students are not present for spring 2021, do we still need to buy the school’s insurance plan?
  The requirements for having medical insurance while attending CMU remains in effect. A student studying remotely is not required to purchase health insurance through the university.
  
  If purchased, the CMU insurance plan does include coverage of COVID-19. Aetna, the insurance carrier for the CMU Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP), has indicated that medical treatment and coverage for COVID-19 remains the same as any other viral infection. Aetna is waiving co-pays for all diagnostic testing related to COVID-19. For more information please see the links below.
  
  https://www.aetna.com/individuals-families/member-rights-resources/need-to-know-coronavirus.html
  
  https://www.cvs.com/content/coronavirus
  
  The CMU SHIP is a PPO plan and covers throughout the US. Please find an in-network provider to maximize the benefits (select Open Choice PPO): https://www.aetna.com/dsepublic/#/contentPage?page=providerSearchLanding&site_id=studenthealth
   
• What is the Activity Fee on my student account?
  The student activities fee is used to cover student programming and events on campus. For Fall 2020/ Spring 2021, the Graduate Student Assembly will continue its on-campus and national advocacy efforts to serve and support the academic and professional experience for all graduate students at Carnegie Mellon, whether locally or abroad. The fee has been reduced (from $111 to $90) after reevaluating funds for in-person Orientation programming and other large fall events/expenditures that are not going to require the normal funding capacity.
   
• What is the Transportation Fee on my student account? Why I am being charged the fee if I am not going to be in Pittsburgh in Fall 2020 and/ or Spring 2021?
  The transportation fee is used to support students' local transportation needs. In Pittsburgh, this provides students with unlimited access to the local Port Authority Transit (PAT) system as well as the Carnegie Mellon University Shuttle and Escort Service. In Fall 2020/ Spring 2021, removal of the fee is based on student location. Once the student indicates in their SIO survey that they will not be living in Pittsburgh, their transportation fee should come off the next day.
   
• Will students taking remote classes be eligible for jobs at university?
  The student’s location will determine whether or not they are eligible to work for the university. This answer will also depend upon the type of work a student would potentially be engaging in.
  
  For international students in F-1 or J-1 status: we are awaiting government guidance as to whether on-campus employment will be permissible for F-1 or J-1 students enrolling remotely.
   
• How will placement exams be offered for the incoming class? When will they be offered? How will they be taken by students?
  The placement exams will not be offered ahead of the Spring 2021 semester. Students who matriculated in Fall 2020 were able to take exams online in Summer 2020. That was the only opportunity to complete the exemption/placement exams.
  
  For students newly matriculating in Spring 2021, you will be able to take exemption exams in May or August 2021, depending upon your program and track.
  
  Once the schedule has been confirmed and finalized, the schedule and the system requirements will be posted to the Admitted Student Portal. An email will also be sent to inform students that the details are available.
   
• For international students only:
  I may choose to complete my first semester remotely from home. Do I still need to complete the ‘New Initial Student Document Request’ in the MyOIE portal?
  If there is even a small chance you will be in-person for classes for spring 2021 then we recommend completing the ‘New Initial Student Document Request’ to request an I-20 for incoming F-1 students, or a DS-2019 for incoming J-1 students. If prior to the start of spring 2021 classes, you decide to enroll remotely for spring 2021, the Office of International Education (OIE) can change the start date on your I-20 or DS-2019 to a future semester start date.
   
• For international students only:
  I'm an international student, so if I decided to do the first semester online, should I still apply for the visa right now, or should I wait?
  Individual student questions regarding this topic can be sent to OIE ( oie@andrew.cmu.edu) and OIE advisors will respond to them on an individual basis.
   
• For MISM and MISM BIDA 12-month/16-month students only:
  FAQs on taking 1-2 remote courses ("Slow Start Spring 2021") for MISM and MISM-BIDA students.
  Please click here to learn more about taking additional courses in Spring 2021.