Global Pandemic affecting International Students
As colleges across the country close their campus and switch to online format due to COVID-19, many students fear the unknown. International students face an even more unpredictable outlook as they grapple with the choice to stay in America or attempt to rush back home to familiar surroundings.
Santa Monica College (SMC) has roughly 3,000 international students, making up approximately 10 percent of the student population, from all over the world and many of them have been affected by the current circumstances brought on by COVID-19. While some students have chosen to go back to their home countries, others are choosing to stay in Los Angeles.
Under normal circumstances, international students are allowed to take up to six online units per semester, while nine units must be on-ground to maintain their F-1 visa status. SMC along with numerous other colleges and universities across the country have omitted the previous limit of six online units. With this change in requirement some international students have decided to return to their home soil to finish their classes online.
For some students, traveling back home is not an easy transition. Sharon Thet, an English major at SMC originally from Burma, expressed, “some of us are thousands of miles from home and everything is changing by the minute and flights are getting cancelled.” She also lamented that she feared going outside because of bigotry associated with the outbreak.
“Seeing my fellow Asians, people of my race, getting verbally and physically abused in public adds a burden to my worries," said Thet. "I do not want to go out.”
22-year-old sociology major Maria Paulsen from Norway made the decision of going home last week because she felt safer being in her home country.
“It was difficult leaving LA so soon, and felt weird leaving at this time as I already got so used to my life there,” said Paulsen.
Paulsen, among many other students who have chosen to go home, are leaving behind apartments they are still paying for. Due to travel restrictions they are also risking complications when re-enrolling for the fall semester. When addressing this issue, Paulsen said, “I will continue my school online, and if it is possible, I will return to the U.S. in fall."
Although many students are making the choice to leave, there are also those who feel like staying is the best option. Lea Yang, a former SMC student from Taiwan, who now studies public relations at California State University, Fullerton, says she feels a greater risk of contracting the virus traveling back to Taiwan than staying in California.
“I think if I have family here [in the U.S.], then yes I would leave LA and stay at my family’s house, but since I’m an international student, it’s safer. I don’t bring any potential risk back to my country.” Yang has lived in LA for the last two years and has not traveled back to Taiwan since 2017.
Another student who has made the decision to stay is Julian de Bri, a business major from Sweden. He believes his family is safe and has enough government-provided resources back home. He also fears that if he went back to Sweden it could possibly alter his student visa status.
"There might be a chance I can't travel back, and then basically there's no option for me to continue my studies. I will have thrown away all my money." de Bri has one more semester before attempting to transfer to a 4-year university here in America.
Be sure to click below for our brief, but detailed conversation about how de Bri is coping with a global pandemic while studying abroad.