Pay close attention to what happened to me.

I walked in May 2006 ( although I had 2 more classes to finish for my associate degree). In Fall 2006, I took those 2 classes and in early November I applied for the opt.  I didn't hear anything from the int'l office until January 08 2007 (please not that the spring semester was to begin from 18). So I went to int'l office and they could not find my file. Apparently, they had not sent my file and thus lost it. I thought Man I am SOL. Then I  talked to advisor for potential solution to it. Since all of the classes were full, I enrolled in for the Flex term 12 hour classes that were set to begin after the spring break. In the mean time, I reapplied. And I started going to school. Also, I wrote to the INS office about what happened to me and told them that I did everything on part and that the interational office was the one to blame (I don't know if this letter helped). In early April 2007 I got my EAD card and henced dropped all the classes.  However, the opt period was about 3 months shorter because  of all the mess I had to go through.

Thus, the solutions:

Ask your advisors if he could enroll you in other classes just to be in status until your EAD card arrives (if its community college)

Or asks him if you could take some classes at  cheaper CC (under the condition that int'l officer would talk to the prospective school--should the necessity arise since it is not your fault and they are the one liable for everything)

The Bottomline

Set aside tuition for community college for a semsester. Because I went and talked to the president of the college if i could get reimbursement on my tuition. "It' s the cost of being in-status, we can not do anything about it", she said.    

 Good luck !! Everything should be fine. 

The lesson to be learnt here: EVEN IN AMERICA THINGS LIKE THIS HAPPEN, NOT JUST NEPAL