Is it possible that you could allow for manual management of student statuses (New/Returning) as you have for enrollment statuses (part/full-time, etc.)? Additional statuses such as LOA would also be helpful.
Related: It would be helpful if transfer credit could be excluded from the calculation of earned credit leading to the automated "Returning" Status tag.
Example: New student has been granted transfer credit for a course prior to enrolling (pursuing as of date) is given the status tag of "Returning" rather than "New" because they have "earned" credit via transfer.