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Partly. F-1 status can be used for public high school, but only for a limited time and only if the education is paid for in full. It cannot be used for public elementary school or for publicly funded adult education at all. These limits have been in place since 1996 and remain the law today.
No public elementary school, and no publicly funded adult education. Kindergarten through eighth grade is closed to F-1 students, as are publicly funded adult education and adult language programs. There is no waiver and no payment that opens them.
Twelve months at public high school, and no more. Attendance at public secondary school is capped at twelve months in total. This is a lifetime aggregate for F-1 status, not a per-school or per-year allowance, and it cannot be extended, renewed or restarted by moving to a different district.
The full cost must be reimbursed in advance. The student must pay the school district the full unsubsidized per capita cost of the education for the intended period of study, and must be able to prove it. This is not a nominal tuition figure; it is what the district calculates it actually spends per pupil, and it can be substantial.
The first question is usually whether the district can accept an F-1 student at all. A school must be certified by the Student and Exchange Visitor Program before it can issue a Form I-20, and many public districts are not. Where a district is certified, it records the cost and the payment on the I-20, and the student should expect to show proof of payment both at the visa interview and on arrival at the border.
Because the twelve-month limit and the reimbursement requirement are separate, meeting one does not excuse the other. A family that pays in full still cannot extend beyond a year, and a student within the twelve months still cannot attend without paying.
These restrictions apply only to F-1 students. They do not apply to private schools of any kind, or to private language and training programs, which remain open to F-1 students without the twelve-month cap or the reimbursement requirement. They also do not apply to children who are in the United States in a different status. A child holding derivative status as the dependent of a parent working or studying here, for example, may attend public school on the ordinary basis, as may a secondary school student participating in an approved exchange visitor program.
A student who is lawfully enrolled at a private school or a private language program and then abandons it for a public school, without satisfying the public school requirements, violates F-1 status and the visa becomes void. The consequences reach beyond the immediate problem: immigration law contains a specific ground of inadmissibility for students who violate these rules, which can bar a return to the United States for a period of years. This is not an area in which to improvise.
Families who want a U.S. secondary school experience generally have better options than stretching F-1. An approved secondary school exchange program under the J-1 category is designed for exactly this purpose and permits public school attendance. Private school under F-1 avoids both the cap and the reimbursement requirement. And where a parent will be in the United States in a work or study category, the child's derivative status usually allows public school enrollment on ordinary terms. Which route fits depends on the family's circumstances, and the choice is worth making deliberately before anyone applies for anything.
The restrictions described here come from section 625 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, now found at section 214(m) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
This page is general information, not legal advice. Requirements and costs vary by district and change over time, so confirm the current position with the school and discuss your family's circumstances with an attorney.