Calculating Funding

Source: https://isss.illinois.edu/students/employment/calculating-funding/ Parent: https://isss.illinois.edu/students/

Some requests in iSTART ask for students to verify funding sources for their expenses. For some requests, students may also be asked to submit proof of funding.

Expenses

Expenses on your I-20 or DS-2019 may include the following:

• Tuition and fees
• Living expenses
• Dependent expenses (spouse and children)

Funding

Funding is usually calculated for one year for F-1 students and for the duration of the program for J-1 students. Information about the required expenses for a student’s program is available in the specific e-form. Students can also contact the Office of the Registrar for more information about expenses.

General Guidelines for all funding Documents

• Funding should be liquid
• Proof of funds document should have been issued in the last 6 months
• Proof of funds should be in USD (if this is not possible, ISSS will use a conversion based on the current exchange rate)
• Documents should be in English (if this is not possible, please contact ISSS)

Additionally for bank statements:

• Should clearly state account holder’s name
• Should show account number

Additionally for letters from departments (assistantships, etc.):

• Should be on unit letterhead and dated
• Should clearly show name and signature of person who signed form
• If appointment is renewable, this should be clearly indicated in the letter. Otherwise, ISSS will only be able to calculate funding for the time period listed in the letter

• Should either have a monthly or yearly stipend/salary listed

• If monthly, make sure the letter also indicates how many months out of the year the student is paid (i.e. 9,11,12)

Calculating Funding on OPT

If you need to update the funding on your I-20 while on OPT and will be using “employer funds”, please submit an employment letter (not earnings statement):

• On employer letterhead
• Include dates of employment
• Include annual salary (preferred) or monthly salary

If uploading multiple sources of funding into the iSTART e-form, please combine documents into one PDF document to upload.