UA deaf to woes of international students

As top UA officials stand idly by, scores of students hit hard by the east Asian financial crisis five months ago are trickling back to their homelands.

The devastation felt especially in Indonesian, Malaysian and South Korean economies in January sent many University of Arizona international students into a downward financial spiral, forcing many to forfeit their dreams of diplomas.

"There wasn't an administrative response to the crisis, which we are a little concerned about," said Kirk Simmons, the UA's executive associate director of international affairs. "I was a bit confused by that."

Simmons said a number of requests were made to administrators from within the university to aid the students, but the International Student Programs office had never received a response.

UA President Peter Likins contradicted Simmons yesterday, saying although the UA has no "single sweeping policy" to help such students in need, the university is trying to deal with the quandaries on an individual basis.

"I'm sure that's less than satisfactory to international students," he said.

Likins added east Asian international students' problem had not reached the presidential level.

"I was not engaged in the issue, though I was aware of the problem," Likins said, adding that at the undergraduate level, Provost Paul Sypherd was handling the problems. Sypherd was in Italy and unreachable for comment.

Jean Johnson of the Bursar's Office said international students could apply for the same emergency need-based loans as other UA students. There were no special accommodations for international students in trouble.

She was unable to determine yesterday if any east Asian students had received such loans.

The UA did manage to help 18 students, including 12 Thai graduate students, and 6 undergraduates through efforts by International Student Programs and Services, a section of Global Student Programs.

The UA had 88 Indonesian, 100 South Korean and 37 Malaysian students enrolled at the UA during the Spring 1998 term, but Likins was aware than some may not be returning.

"A good deal of the Malaysian students have gone home," Likins said.

David Currey, UA's international affairs director, said 20 to 30 students have contacted him with financial problems.

"Most undergraduates from these countries are in some way affected," he said. "I predict an overall drop in international student enrollment next year."

An immediate response was what students needed, said Muhammad Iqbal, president of the Indonesian Student Association. He circulated a petition and collected 70 signatures from Indonesian students asking for help.

Iqbal added that he knows of a half-dozen students that have been forced to return to Indonesia.

Despite the economic squeeze he felt this year, computer science sophomore Faried Ibrahim counts himself as fortunate.

"It's been sort of hard, but I'm still here," he said Monday. "One of my friends is going back to Indonesia tomorrow."

His friend's family's business collapsed after the rupiah, Indonesia's currency, devalued, Ibrahim said.

Likins said the university has not reacted with a policy change because of constraints on how to spend state money.

"We can't make a sweeping policy to use state money for international students," Likins said.

When east Asian currencies bottomed out last winter, many colleges in the United States scrambled to help students in need. Students at the University of Iowa were permitted to defer tuition payments until after the spring semester last fall. Lehigh University and University of Wisconsin at Madison allowed students to pay the spring semester's tuition in installments. The University of Denver is permitting students to defer payments until the financial crisis ends.

Currey said the International Affairs Program recommended to the provost's office that the UA provide an installment plan similar to "other peer institutions in the United States," but "at this time, the administration has not acted on our recommendations."

International students pay $4,500 a semester to study at the UA. With the devaluation of many Asian currencies compared to the dollar, in order to be able to attend the UA, students receiving aid from a parent would have to scrape together many times the amount of money.

The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service recently suspended certain requirements that traditionally limited students studying in the United States to working on-campus, and for a set number of hours.

The new requirements, published May 14, permit students to drop below the normal 12 unit requirement and work off-campus for 40 hours a week with approval from the INS.

The INS stated it was taking the action "because of the stated desire of the President of the United States" to assist wherever feasible in easing the students' "severe economic hardship."

Ibrahim said the looser INS requirements will brighten futures for the students.

"That's good - that will certainly help a lot of students here," he said.

Iqbal, a economics sophomore, was reluctant to think about what it will mean to work full-time and stay in school.

"So far, we don't want to think about the future," he said. "After the fall, I will have to divide my mind with school and a job."

He said the help from the INS was "a big deal," but, "we still need the university to help us find a way to go to school."