International Students in Higher Education: How to Cope?

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Having international students attending higher education here in the United States can be very beneficial not only for the college or university but also for the other students that attend the school. International students help bring diversity to campus life. These students also help to bring different and fresh perspectives to the classroom. Another benefit of having international students attend higher education here in the United States is that it helps to increase people’s tolerance, understanding and appreciation of different countries and cultures from around the world (Crowson, 2010, p. 413). International students may have a difficult time adjusting to the college or university when they first get here. Things like living on campus and discrimination or perceived discrimination can have negative impacts on the students experience with the college or university.
For international students, living on campus can be difficult. Like everything else when they first attend the college or university it can be hard to adjust and may be a culture shock to the student. Even though living on campus for international students has a benefit of it being in close proximity, it seems as though more international students would prefer to live off campus. International students would prefer to live off campus for several reasons. One reason would be that they feel like the cost of living on campus is more expensive than living off campus (Poyrazli & Grahame, 2006, p. 34). International students believe that the school should modify the prices for living on campus in a residence hall to be more competitive with off campus housing which would then help those international students that come from a lower socioeconomic status and it wo...

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...e international students with information on how to find items cheaply (Poyrazli & Grahame, 2006, p. 41). I think that there are many other difficulties and adjustments for international students when they live on campus. It was very difficult and not a lot of information could be found on the impact of international students living with other international students or the effect of living with students from the United States. I think that when international students live with American students that it can have a large impact on how the international student adjusts to being in the United States, both in a positive or negative way depending on the roommate that they may be assigned to live with. More research on this needs to be done in order to see what can be done to help make international student’s time in higher education in the United States could be improved.

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