Reduced course load, semester by semester

Short answer: there are three different reduced course loads, with three different rulebooks — and the order you use them in matters. 8 CFR 214.2(f)(6)(iii)

1. Academic difficulty — the one-shot RCL

Available for initial difficulty with the English language or reading requirements, unfamiliarity with American teaching methods, or improper course level placement. Three constraints students consistently miss:

• Once per program level. Used it during your bachelor's? It's available again for a master's — but never twice within the same program.
• Half-time floor. You must still carry at least six credit hours (or the equivalent half of a full course of study).
• Recovery term. You must resume a full course of study at the next available term. It's a one-semester valve, not a new normal.

And the reasons have a shelf life: "unfamiliarity with American teaching methods" is credible in your first year. A DSO who authorizes it in year three is writing a justification that won't survive review.

2. Medical — renewable, capped at 12 months

A licensed medical doctor, doctor of osteopathy, or licensed clinical psychologist must recommend the reduction in writing. The letter has to be current — renewed each term the RCL continues — and the total medical RCL time is capped at 12 months aggregate per program level. Within those limits it's the most flexible RCL: it can reduce you below half-time or to zero enrollment.

3. Final semester — not really an exception, but its own rule

If you need fewer courses than a full load to finish your program in your current term, your DSO can authorize a reduced course load for that final term. Two footnotes: if you need only one course to finish, it cannot be an online course, and "final semester" claimed twice is the kind of record inconsistency that gets SEVIS attention.

RCL and everything else you're doing

An authorized RCL means you are still maintaining status — on-campus work and DSO-authorized training don't automatically break. But every authorization sits on the premise that your enrollment story is coherent: an RCL for medical reasons paired with full-time CPT reads as a contradiction, and your DSO will (and should) ask about it before SEVP does.