The land of opportunity
There are hidden financial, mental and social costs to a US education
Sahadev Yangmali Rai
According to USA Today, the number of international students in US colleges and universities rose 4.7 percent to 723,277 during the 2010-2011 academic year and international students and their dependents contributed more than $20 billion to the US economy that year. Interestingly, Nepali students are one of the largest international student communities in the US and the number of Nepali students coming to the US has increased every year except last year. As stated by The Himalayan Times, an annual census of international students showed that Nepali students’ enrollment in US academic institutions dropped to 10,301 in 2010/2011 from 11,233 in 2009/10. The report attributes the reason for this drop to tough screening of Nepali students by the US embassy.
Regardless of the screening and the increases in the cost of attending universities, thousands of Nepali students apply for student visas every year and are ready to pay hefty fees. What they do not understand are the challenges they have to face after they manage to gain admissions to colleges and a student visa. These challenges range from the financial and mental to social aspects of life. I am not trying to discourage students from coming to the US. Rather, I want to shed light on some hidden facts that students and parents don’t see while preparing for departures.
“I came to the US because the American degree is recognised worldwide,” says Prasanna Rajbhandari, a Junior at Coe College, Iowa, majoring in Physics. While this is true and a US education does prepare students to face real life challenges, there is a hidden side to this story that starts revealing itself once students arrive in the US. The cost of attending school doesn’t truly reflect the ‘total’ cost. Parents estimate the cost based on what is mentioned in the brochure or websites of colleges. But these costs do not take into consideration health insurance, textbooks or government taxation. Health insurance is skyrocketing and textbook prices are surprisingly very high. “Even though my parents estimated a budget for my education, they have ended up paying more than what they had estimated. Tuition and other costs such as insurance and textbooks are always expected to increase and students are bound to pay more. I feel guilty asking my family to contribute a significant amount of their income for my education,” says Binju Gaire, a freshman majoring in Business Studies at Westminster College, Missouri.
As costs are increasing every year, parents are facing financial hardship to match those costs. International students get work-study employment, which, in many cases, is not even enough to cover health insurance. As per US regulations, international students cannot work off campus except for those who are doing an internship. The hard fact is that many internships that are competitive in nature are unpaid. So in order to match increasing costs, many students ended up working illegally off-campus. They undergo emotional stress partly they have to do well in school and are always worried about being caught by the authorities. These constraints can puts students through emotional and sometimes, even mental breakdown.
Furthermore, it is mandatory for most international students to live on campus during their first year along with paying for a mandatory meal plan. So the cost of living in the first year is very high. “Once you come to college, everything is mandatory: living on campus, textbooks, meal plans—whether you like the food or not. And if you don’t pay your bills on time, they keep charging interest,” says Gunjan Kaphle, a sophomore majoring in Information Systems at St. John’s College, New Mexico, who recently transferred to Minnesota State University. In many cases, the cost of living goes down after the first year as students can live off-campus, which is usually much cheaper than campus housing. However, students need to apply for off-campus programmes and the ultimate decision rests with the college administration.
Even though the US claims to be a melting pot and embraces diversity, there are always challenges for international students to get an internship or jobs after graduation. Sometime students make it through the final round of their job interview but at the end, citizenship matters as many US companies are reluctant to sponsor a work visa for international students. Many Nepali students want to work in the US for a while before they return to Nepal. Because of the huge investments in education, they do not feel secure to go back to Nepal right after graduating. Because of political instability and unemployment problems back home, Nepali students are ready to take up a job in the US even though that may not be paid a decent salary. “Unless the Nepali government can guarantee jobs for graduates from US colleges and universities, it is almost guaranteed that Nepali students will not be ready to return to serve their county in the foreseeable future,” says Bimala Rawal, a sophomore at Georgetown University, Washington DC, who is majoring in public health.
Published on: 28 March 2013 | The Kathmandu Post
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