TN 15 (01-03)

A. Introduction

The student's responses and the school official's certification on the SSA-1372-BK-FC generally supply enough information to determine the status of a foreign school. Responses showing that the school is a secondary school will usually be sufficient, absent information to the contrary, to find the school is an EI.

Many schools outside the United States operate on several educational levels. (For example, many universities in the Philippines and Japan provide both secondary and college or university education.) Thus, if a student's responses on the SSA-1372-BK-FC show he or she is in attendance at the secondary level and this is confirmed by the school official's certification, this will generally establish that the school is an EI.

See RS 00205.875 - RS 00205.895 for guidelines on identifying secondary-level schools and special instructions on student claims in particular countries.

B. Process

FOs and FBUs will review the responses of the student and the school official and:

• document the file in any instances in which a secondary-level school is not part of the educational system in that country.

• resolve any problems, by contact with the school as explained in RS 00205.700B, if there is a possible misunderstanding of the "high school" concept or erroneous information. (For example, "Hochschule," "Hogeschool," "Hogskolan" and "Hogskole" are often literally translated as "high school" when in fact they are postsecondary-level schools.) The information need not be over a school official's signature.

SSA will assume the school is not an elementary school, absent information to the contrary.