COVID-19 Resources for Admitted CS Graduate Students

Admissions

A student who has accepted admission to an on-campus CS graduate program (PhD, MS, or on-campus MCS program) but is unable to matriculate on campus for Fall 2020 due to COVID-19-related issues will be allowed to defer the starting term to Spring 2021 with a later option to extend admission until Fall 2021 [updated June 9, 2020].

Another option is that the student may begin their graduate studies in Fall 2020 by enrolling in available online graduate-level courses. With this option, if the student was offered admission with funding that included a tuition waiver (e.g., a teaching or research assistantship or full fellowship), the student will receive a stand-alone tuition waiver and will be able to enroll in available online courses and will only be charged the General Fee (it was $293 in Spring 2020). However, the stand-alone tuition waiver may be taxable. Under certain conditions, it might be possible for the student to maintain their research assistantship. However, given the complexity of the rules, the student will need to contact the CS Department to explore whether this option might be available to them.

A student expecting to receive student financial aid or student loans from governmental or other sources are advised to review the registration requirements to remain eligible for such assistance. U.S. domestic students may refer to eligibility criteria on the Office of the Student Financial Aid website. Students who expect to receive financial aid from other sources must consult with the funding entities to verify eligibility criteria.

If you will be unable to matriculate on campus for the Fall 2020 term due to COVID-19-related travel restrictions, please email the department at <admissions@cs.illinois.edu> to request deferring the admissions offer or to request registering for available online graduate courses. The department must receive this information no later than July 1, 2020, though earlier responses would be appreciated to help the department plan for the Fall semester. If not received by this date, the department will defer your admission until Fall 2021.

Students who were offered admission without funding will be charged the tuition and fees appropriate for their program code. Additional information may be found on the Graduate College COVID-19 page.

All admitted students will receive additional information via email.

English Proficiency Exams

In response to the temporary closings of testing centers in countries impacted by COVID-19, the Graduate College will temporarily accept Duolingo English Test examination results for tests taken between February 1 and August 1, 2020. Please refer to the Graduate College COVID-19 page for further details.