F-1 Student Loses Assistantship: What It Means for Your Status

Bennard Eriakha and his twin brother Alfred came to the University of Mississippi from abroad to pursue doctoral degrees in Pharmacy Administration. Their academic careers unraveled after a series of disputes with faculty — over mentorship assignments, mandatory progress documents, and in-person meeting requirements. The university placed both brothers on provisional-student status after they refused to complete a required "Abilities Transcript" and declined in-person meetings with their advisors. Later, while the lawsuit was pending, both were downgraded further to non-degree-seeking status.

What the Fifth Circuit decided

Bennard sued the university and four faculty members, claiming violations of the First and Fourteenth Amendments and Mississippi contract law. The Fifth Circuit, in a ruling issued September 9, 2026, affirmed the lower court's dismissal. The court found that his allegations — even read generously — did not turn academic disagreements into constitutional violations. Claims against the university itself were barred by state sovereign immunity. The court did make one correction: those sovereign-immunity dismissals must be recorded as "without prejudice," meaning Bennard is not permanently blocked from refiling those specific claims in a proper forum. His federal constitutional claims against individual faculty members, however, were dismissed with prejudice under Rule 12(b)(6), meaning the court found they simply did not hold up as legal claims.

Bennard argued that losing his graduate assistantship directly threatened his F-1 visa status. Under F-1 rules, international students must maintain full-time enrollment and comply with their program's requirements. A downgrade to provisional or non-degree-seeking status can put a student out of compliance with their visa conditions — potentially triggering a status violation that US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) or Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) could act on. The Fifth Circuit noted this argument but did not resolve the immigration question; it was raised as context for why Bennard sought emergency relief, not as a separate legal claim the court addressed.

The case is a clear warning for international students: academic disputes that seem purely administrative can have immigration consequences. Losing a graduate assistantship, being placed on provisional status, or being dropped to non-degree-seeking status are not just academic problems. Each of those changes can affect whether you remain in valid F-1 status — and whether your Designated School Official (DSO), the person at your university who manages your visa paperwork, is required to report a status change to the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVIS).

What to do

• If your university changes your enrollment status — provisional, probation, or non-degree-seeking — contact your international student office (DSO) immediately and ask whether a SEVIS report will be filed. Do not wait for them to reach out to you.
• If you lose a graduate assistantship that was tied to your financial support, talk to an immigration lawyer about whether your F-1 status is still valid and what options you have, including a possible change of status or transfer to another school.
• If you have a dispute with your university over academic sanctions, document everything in writing — emails, meeting requests, responses — before it escalates. Courts look at the full record, and so will USCIS if your status is questioned.
• If you believe your university retaliated against you for raising disability or discrimination complaints, consult both an immigration attorney and a civil rights attorney. These are separate legal tracks, and missing one can cost you options.

Related: our step-by-step guide — “Appealing to the BIA”.