Living by yourself when you're 18 is scary. Living by yourself when you're 18 in another country is even scarier, but since 2014, 974,26 college students have taken the risk to follow their dreams and invest in their careers by traveling to the United States to pursue their higher education degree. Even though so many have come thinking that the American Dream would become true, a good number of these international students decides to go back to their countries without completing college due to financial hardships and lack of opportunities for foreign students.
First, let me explain to you something about currencies: Currencies are monetary units, it is the money each country uses. The United States uses dollars as its currency and, currently, it is the strongest currency in the world, which makes it very expensive. Therefore, internationals pay a higher tuition price with little, to no financial aid. A study made by the University of Washington, 18% percent of its freshmen come from abroad and they still pay three times more than regular students. In a NY Times piece, the dean of admissions confirms that this is what, most of the time, helps the in-state students to afford to go to college. While it is comprehensible that the country should provide better chances for its citizens, if you are willing to receive international students, the university must have alternative opportunities for them as well. Especially, when these students brought to the national economy a value of $30.5 billion and supported more than 373,000 through 2014 and 2015.
The VISA most international students have on their passport is the F-1 VISA, which allows you to work only at an on-campus job, not including Work Study as the payment is federal money, and most of the time, colleges and universities lack Student Work opportunities for these students. Immigration policies and VISA paperwork is very complicated, often international students have a hard time finding legal work because most employers do not know how to handle this situation. “Well, they should have thought about it before coming here!” you might say, but, believe me, we did, most of us get in touch with counselors before deciding and question them if there are jobs available, but because most of them are not well informed with VISA statuses, they affirm to us there are as they believe we can occupy Work Study positions.
Besides that, engaging with other cultures is extremely beneficial to American students who have never been exposed to a global experience. It helps them to open up their horizons and be more sympathetic towards universal struggles. The exchange of culture, language and knowledge increases the chances of building a better, less judgmental, American generation.
The reason international students choose the United States is because we believe in the promise of the American Dream, we come after the opportunities our countries do not have and most of us decide to stay here after we graduate as we start to create roots and connections, this means we keep giving back to this country. However, for that to be possible, we cannot do everything by ourselves, we need actual support from the educational institutions that admitted us and from the US government too.
