By Jan. 30, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service requires every college in the nation to enter information about foreign students and scholars in the new Student and Exchange Visitor Information System.
After the deadline, the INS will not accept visa documents outside of the SEVIS system -- a move that could effectively shut down colleges' international student programs, officials said.
Schools could begin sending information July 1, but Bob Locke, director of the International Center, said UNC hasn't reported anything yet. "It's going to be a real crunch (to implement the program)," he said.
UNC is still in the preliminary planning stages and has not developed a proposal for the database's implementation. Locke said he hopes to have one complete in a couple of weeks.
One factor in the delay has been little direction on the part of the federal government to establish final restrictions.
Also, computer glitches are slowing the program's completion. The database can only process one entry at a time and isn't set up for batch processing, where all the students could be entered at once, Locke said.
University officials said the software to support the system could cost as much as $20,000 to $30,000 -- money Locke said UNC doesn't have. "It is not a good year in the University budget or the state budget to deal with it," he said.
Officials said the program also would require extra staff to update the database. The SEVIS database is designed to promptly inform the INS about changes in the status of foreign students.
The database would require UNC to report to the INS when any of the 1,200 international students on campus change their address, major or enrollment status.
