Franklin & Marshall College

Here you'll find information about the next step following submission of your $500 enrollment deposit to Franklin & Marshall's Admission Office.

Your first step is to apply for the I-20. Please do not schedule your visa interview until you have this document in your possession as we can not expedite the I-20 issuance process for individuals based on visa interviews. Students will apply for their I-20's and subsequent F-1 visas from May through mid-July.

FINANCIAL DOCUMENTATION

Please pay special attention to the required financial documents. You are required to submit original documents, not photocopies, in USD. (If you can not produce documents in USD, please submit a currency calculation for the bank account balance or salary to USD from www.xe.com.)  

Most students have a sponsor and must submit a bank letter or bank statement from their sponsor showing that enough funding currently exists in their bank account for the first year of study, minus any financial aid. (We need to see an account balance.)  Proof of future income is also required. This is usually an employer letter stating the title and annual salary of the sponsor(s). If both of your parents are working and will fund your education in part or full, please submit an employer letter for each parent. If your sponsor currently has enough funding in the bank to pay for all four years of your education, then you do not need to submit proof of future funding.

COMMUNICATION DETAILS

Forms I-20 are usually issued within three business days of receipt of a complete I-20 application by mail. If you have received delivery confirmation that your package has arrived on campus, please give us three business days for processing before you contact us to confirm receipt. We will email you should we need additional documentation from you, and we will certainly email you when your I-20 is ready to be mailed. You will have the opportunity to request expedited shipping at your expense. Federal Express usually costs about $75 USD.

As a reminder, you may not email or fax your I-20 materials to us. You must mail them to us, at the address provided in paragraph three of page one of the I-20 application. This is necessary since we need original financial documents.  (The US State Department will also require original financial documents, so request two of everything.)

If you have any questions about your financial documents, please email Dean Haring at jharing@fandm.edu. She typically needs 1-2 business days to respond to email.

Once your I-20 has been issued you will receive additional information about the student visa process, orientation, as well as arriving to F&M by email.  We sincerely look forward to working with you!