No Asia, No Cry

The UO will soon be feeling the impact of the collapse of Asian financial markets. How will you be affected?

But how does this financial crisis affect University students from the US? The most important concern of both the administration and the ASUO is the loss of culture. International students provide art, culture and history to enrich our campus. The perspective they add to the university community is invaluable in the emerging global marketplace. The other concern is monetary. International students pay the full cost of their education. For tuition and living expenses, this is almost $20,000 per year. While the loss of students this year will not affect next year's tuition, it will affect the budget. This impact is made more significant by the fact that the state has already underfunded the University.

The administration has come up with three programs to ease the financial burden of the Asian students. A special fund of $100,000 has been set up to provide short-term loans for immediate financial needs. These loans are good through August 1st. The University is confident that there is no financial risk involved with these loans, as it currently enjoys a loan repayment rate of over 99 percent. There is a push to fund-raise for more money for the short-term loan fund. According to Executive Assistant to the President Dave Hubin, "We need a larger fund than we have in place now to specifically buffer the ups and downs of the individuals." On another front, the business office is offering deferment of tuition payment on a student by student basis.

Finally, in an e-mail sent to international students on February 5th, the administration is offering 50 scholarships of $1000, funded by money donated for international students.

The long term solutions are a little more fuzzy. "We don't have in place yet the plans that ill address this issue long term." Hubin said. He is working, along with the heads of other colleges in the Pacific-10 and Big-10 conferences and the American Council on Education, to lobby the Immigration and Naturalization Service to speed up approval of off-campus work permits. Currently, the majority of international students are not allowed to work off campus. "We are currently in a time," according to Hubin, "where our unemployment is low, and students are bringing in skills that could certainly serve our local economies." Vice-Provost of International Affairs George Sheridan is working to form partnerships with Asian universities, as well as international and local industies. Hubin hopes the UO will be recognized as a leader in supporting international students, and that students and prospective students will realize that the UO will go the extra mile to support students in need.

As for cultural support, this becomes a little harder for both the administration and the ASUO. The administration is stressing the importance of maintaining Pacific Rim links that have been established by the presence of the international students, a concern which has been increasing in importance as the Pacific Rim has increasingly become the focus of our local economy. ASUO Vice-President Ben Unger stresses the high priority of maintaining the student community. The ASUO is supporting the ISA by lobbying for funds from the Over-realized Fund to build an elevator near the International Student Lounge. Whether or not this project will happen is yet to be seen. The central administration of the President's office would recommend budgetary prudence in using over-realized funds during this fiscally volatile time. The Over-realized Fund is comprised of fees collected when enrollment is higher than expected; this one glaring problem with using money from these funds is that if enough students return home, prior use of moneys from the fund may create a deficit in future terms. An across-the-board tuition freeze would also benefit the international students, according to Unger. This year's tuition freeze was only for in-state students, but "for next year, we are asking Governor Kitzhaber for a tuition freeze for all students," he said.

Perhaps the hardest hit program at the University has been the American English Institute. The AEI provides English as a Second Language (ESL) instruction to non-native speakers of English, as well as teaching, training, and employment opportunities for graduate linguistics students. This program is completely funded by the tuition of the students in the program, who pay an average of $5000 per term for tuition and living expenses. The AEI had over 200 students during the 96-97 school year, according to Pat Bryan, the academic advisor for the AEI. Fall term they expected around 220 students, but only 180 actually enrolled--by the start of winter term only 135 students remained enrolled in the program. Bryan mentioned two students she had personally spoken to who had returned home. "A new student received a phone call from home before classes had even started asking him to come home." The other student was a returning student who also had to return home.

When asked if tuition for the AEI would increase next year, Bryan stated that it would probably not. There are many other institutions in the Northwest and the nation like the AEI, including a program at Lane, and the AEI must stay competitive with these other institutions. Right now they believe they are competitive with these institutions.

To counteract the loss of students, the AEI is planning on increasing the teaching load. Part-time faculty members that were first hired in the fall were not re-hired for winter term. If the trend of declining enrollment continues through next term, there may be more part-time faculty not re-hired. There is also talk of decreasing the administration of the program.

In the January 26 issue of Newsweek, Barbara Kantrowitz talks about a cultural pressure in Korea for international students to return home: "Even the lucky students whose families are still solvent feel guilty about living in comfort here while so many of their friends and relatives are suffering." A graduate student at the University of Illinois is quoted as feeling ashamed for not helping his family. There is a sense of it being a national duty to go home. Those students that have not been greatly affected by the crisis have changed their lifestyle as a result of the crisis. Many have stopped eating out and going to the movies, for example, even if they can afford these expenses.

The main student organization that represents the Asian students is the International Student Association. In a letter written to President Frohnmayer on January 14, the ISA had many suggestions to ease the financial burden. The letter mentions a solution proffered by the University of Toledo, Indonesian students were given a fifteen percent tuition reduction. The ISA would also like to see more work-study/tech-fee funds available to international students.

In his response to the ISA's letter, Frohnmayer reassured the international students that the University would help them. He explained the two programs that the administration had already approved and told the students of the programs that would involve other administrations throughout the PAC-10.

But what about the American students? In letters to the Emerald, some students have expressed concern that too much emphasis has been placed on helping the international students. Kate Lamb, a journalism major, did not receive all the financial aid she expected fall term because a letter sent by the financial aid office was not received. As a result, she was unable to register for winter term classes because her tuition was not paid. This, one would think, would definitely qualify as a financial crisis. Lamb is angry because, while the University is bending to help the international students, it is unwilling to bend policy to help her financial crisis. As she states in her letter, "other University students deserve at least as much help during a financial crisis as the international students."

Nevertheless, the crisis is still greatly affecting international students. Catur Kumala Dewi, the Office Manager for the ISA, is a student from Indonesia. As of yet she has not completely paid this term's tuition. She has been told by the business office that if she is unable to pay tuition by registration time, they will defer payment. This, however, does not ease the stress the financial crisis has put on her. As more and more businesses downsize in Indonesia, it becomes harder and harder just to get money out of the country for any reason.

Catur's parents are working to earn the money to pay her tuition, but they are divided on whether or not she should stay at Oregon. Her mother is the main supporter of her continued education in the United States. Her father, however, is not as sure she should stay and she herself is undecided as to whether she should stay or go home. Whether she finishes her education here or in Indonesia, she says, simply doesnít matter any more.

Other students in the ISA office said there is not a cultural pressure to return home. However, they did state that the short-term loans are not an effective solution to the problem. Many students are hesitant to use the program because these types of loans were part of the cause of the current financial crisis: Banks in the affected countries may have solicited too many short-term loans from businesses and individuals. Part of the reason for the crisis in these countries is that they have too much debt.

The ISA is confident that the administration is doing as much as they can to help. The students must just wait and hope the University does what they promised. Catur said she will "try not to think about it, and think about my studies. I have a responsibility to my parents to do well."

Ryan Gillespie, a junior majoring in English, is Online Editor for the Oregon Commentator