International Cal State Undergrads Feel Brunt of Budget Cuts

Forget adjusting to a foreign culture. Cal State's international students have a new problem on their hands: possible deportation.

This problem, a case of collegiate red tape and poor planning, is a classic Catch-22 scenario. International students must take 12 college credits to meet their visa requirements and stay in the United States. But the colleges those students attend—in this case, Cal State University's 23 members—cut class sizes, making it difficult for many students to enroll in enough courses to prevent deportation.

Hundreds of students face this issue, the Chronicle of Higher Education reports, and with the deadline to find 12 credits looming, there could be a mass exodus of international students out of California. But the Chronicle article does say that the "evidence of problems for international students so far is still anecdotal."

The Chronicle reports that San Jose State University's director of international programs and services, Helen Stevens, says that SJSU advisers are telling international students to consider taking some credits at community colleges to maintain their visas.

"They come in for advising, we try to pull out all the strings we have to help," Stevens tells the Chronicle. "The sad thing is that international students have to be enrolled full time, and that makes it hard, really hard."

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