WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1999

Price international students pay

By Daniel Oliveira

On-Line Forty-Niner

International students make up approximately 900 out of 28,000 students at Cal State Long Beach, but the price they pay to pursue a college education in the United States is not cheap, Hillary Onyeche, academic advisor of the Center for International Education, said.

According to Onyeche, international students must now pay $246 per unit in the California State University system.

To maintain their legal status while living here, they must be enrolled in at least 12 units. Consequently, they pay at least $2,952 just in unit fees every semester.

It is also mandatory that international students purchase health insurance, either from their schools or elsewhere.

With the numbers added, including book costs and the $884 registration fee at CSULB, they generally pay at least $4,000 every semester.

"The international student fees are much higher. In comparison to the same amount of American students, they bring a lot more money to the university," Onyeche said.

Before paying, all students need to obtain an F-1 visa from American consulates in their country to study in the United States.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service passed a 12-unit rule after the World Trade Center bombing, Onyeche said.

He said the terrorists involved with the bombing were students from the Middle East who entered the United States with F-1 visas, but never attended classes at a university.

Before issuing a student visa, the INS now asks international students to show evidence that they are maintaining their full-time status, as well as show they have financial means to support themselves.

According to Onyeche, the parents of international students value an American education and can afford it.

"They pay for school very easily. It's prestigious for them to send these students here to get a degree," he said.

In order to recruit students, a representative of the center goes to workshops and schools throughout the world to discuss CSULB's program for international students.

The department also recruits students through the American Language Institute where they first learn English before pursuing their majors at an American university.

Even with the expensive tuition fees, the center does not have any problem attracting international students, Onyeche said.

"It's just like when you go to a restaurant, if the food is OK, you don't ask for your money back or say that it's expensive," he said. "We only make sure that the professors are qualified and that the programs meet the requirements for accreditation."

Generally, international students cannot work in the United States to earn a living.

They may legally work only if they get permission from the INS after proving that their sponsors are running into financial trouble, Onyeche said.

"Every law here has a loophole," he said. "If the sponsor can no longer afford to pay, there's an application here at the center where [the student] writes what is happening. The INS may give [him or her] a permit to work full time, but [he or she] must be taking at least some classes."

Based on the center's last census, 259 Japanese, 123 Taiwanese and 90 Korean students comprise the majority of foreigners studying at CSULB.