Jeremy Anderson
Special to the Ledger
Moving to a new country and enrolling in classes at a new school is hard enough without having to worry about where you’re going to live or how you’re going to get to class. However, for some of the college’s estimated 2,000 international students, these are real concerns.
The college’s Homestay program connects students attending the college on F-1 student visas with host families in the area, but often lacks enough hosts to accommodate all of the students coming from abroad to study at the college.
“That is the biggest issue,” said Suzanne Maheu, coordinator of Homestay and community support services. “I do community outreach where I meet with different community groups to tell them about the program in an effort to recruit hosts. Hosts are paid a stipend … but usually the demand for Homestay outnumbers the amount of hosts that are available.”
For students who are unable to find host families, the college’s International and Immigrant Student Services department helps find other living arrangements. The department maintains an online listing of available rooms and roommates in the area.
“If they want to live in an apartment, we help them with identifying apartments in the area,” Maheu said. “Also, rental practices: explaining to them what a lease is, terminating a lease [and] what the commitments are when you do take a lease.”
Another challenge many international students face, Maheu said, is a lack of public transportation.
“Anybody who does a homestay typically within the first month needs to get a car,” Maheu said. “Because it’s an awful lot to ask for a host to drive a young adult back and forth to school every day, plus other activities.”
Due to the layout of the state, those without automobiles need to use an alternate method of transportation.
“It’s difficult in Kansas because everything’s so far apart,” said Ricardo Aristiguieta, student activities ambassador and member of the college’s International Club. For students without a car, the only other options are taking the bus or riding a bike.
Aristiguieta, who came to the college from Venezuela on an F-1 student visa, said the International and Immigrant Student Services department helped him not only to get his driver’s license, but also with his visa, the admissions process, finding a job at the college, acquiring health insurance through the college and getting involved in clubs on campus.
“Our main purpose is to help [international students] adjust to the culture and to have resources for them in the community in case they need something that we do not offer here at the college,” said Patricia Donaldson, coordinator of immigrant student regulatory advising and support services.
These additional resources include information about obtaining a social security card, opening a bank account, finding health and dental care, taking off-campus English language courses and more.
“We have students come back here after they transfer out to a four-year college,” Donaldson said. “They’ve got their bachelor’s degree, their master’s degree [and] they come here to say hi because they still remember how great their experience was here at JCCC.”
For more information about International and Immigrant Student Services, visit COM 306 or go to http://www.jccc.edu/admissions/international, or contact Jeremy Anderson at jande108@stumail.jccc.edu.