With coronavirus came the disruption of education as schools and colleges across the world quickly adapted to the online learning format. As colleges across the United States prepare to reopen in August, international students are the least of their worries.
Many colleges including the University of Southern California, where I will be beginning my third year, have announced a hybrid semester that includes a mixture of online and in-person classes with semesters beginning earlier than originally planned, and the winter break beginning on Thanksgiving to limit travel during the semester.
Currently, international students face travel and flight restrictions. While they do have the option to take online classes during this time period, time differences and high cost of education make the option less viable.
When I returned home to India in March with classes moving online, I had no choice but to continue the remaining four weeks taking digital classes. This forced me to adapt to the California time and sleep throughout the day and attend classes all night. With USC having an international student population of 25.4%, many of my professors began offering alternative options of watching class recordings and completing assignments on your own time.
I started using these facilities only to realise that by missing live lectures, I was losing out on participating in class discussions and being held responsible for attendance. It was harder to motivate myself to do assignments and I began watching lectures at two times the speed. So, I switched back to attending live lectures at night.
For me, the reason to study in a US university goes beyond classroom settings. The opportunities, facilities, networking and diversity of campus life and involvement were the factors that attracted me to USC. None of which can be emulated in an online education.
As a journalism and cinema & media studies major, I learn far more through my involvement in extracurricular activities, peer discussions, attending guest talks and office hours with my professor than I do in a three hour lecture.
Even with the disruption of campus life, US colleges continue charging the same tuition for online classes, with USC increasing tuition for the 2020-21 session by 3.5%. Without access to the high speed internet, library and classroom resources, editing and broadcasting facilities, newsrooms and the multitude of other infrastructure I utilise daily to complete assignments and participate in campus life, I do not see the value of my education.
US Universities depend on international students to pay full tuition fees, with many domestic students receiving financial aid from the state and federal governments. International students, on the other hand, are only offered a limited number of scholarships that are awarded when they first join.
With the pandemic leading to financial burdens and increased cost of testing and implementing health procedures on campuses, universities need international students to enroll more than ever and yet none of their plans benefit these students.
For incoming first-year students, the uncertainty is even harder. As they wait for the visa process to restart and international flights to resume, they have no idea what their first year will look like.
Gautam Sushant, director of client relations at eduVelocity Global, works with students to help them apply to colleges in the US and Canada. He said many students were still waiting for their colleges to provide clarity regarding deferring their acceptance or taking classes online for the Fall semester.
Sushant said many parents were also worried about sending their children to study abroad for the first time in the middle of a pandemic, with many considering the possibility of taking a gap year.
“My advice to them would be [to] wait for this pandemic to be over, to not change your plans. If you can delay, just delay them for a while but certainly do not consider that if you got into a US, UK, Australian or a Canadian university, do not defer it from [undergraduate] to [postgraduate],” Sushant added.
Having gone through the process, the first year is often the most crucial for international students as they adjust to campus life and living independently for the first time. I used my first semester to explore Los Angeles, immerse myself into campus life through welcome week activities, make friends and explore the activities that interested me.
While colleges are offering online programs to these students to meet each other and adapt to university life, they are not a substitute for the hustle and bustle of campus life, be it the football season, the college parties or participating in a class discussion with diverse viewpoints.
The pandemic may have prevented things from returning to normal and caused us to adapt to alternative learning environments but asking international students to pay full tuition for online classes without actively communicating with them or offering them resources seems counterintuitive at a time when education institutions need our money more than ever.
(Twesha Dikshit is a third year student at the University of Southern California. She has been back in her hometown Panchkula since March and is currently waiting to return to Los Angeles for her Fall semester.)
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