My PAL Research Program was on Two-year Colleges, to investigate what they have to offer International Students in terms of academic programs, services, financial aid and housing. The project also included the Transfer articulation process with Four -year institutions, and Visa/SEVIS issues.
To carry out the project I was scheduled to visit Community colleges and Four year Colleges in the DC/Maryland/Virginia area, and in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Background to the project

For the past two years or so, the advising office has had both from students and parents requests about higher education institutions in the US that could offer a good education at reasonable cost. Many of those students are hard working, but are for the majority of them, from families with limited financial means.
Some parents have expressed their concerns about the quality of Two- year institutions which, they were told, offer a down graded education, and wanted confirmation of the information or reassurance to the contrary.
In the same period of time three of my student advisees who had applied to a community college were denied a visa.
These factors combined, prompted the choice of the research project on Two-year institutions, when I was given the opportunity to apply for the PAL program. I thought it was time to learn more about these institutions by going beyond what I could read in the books to be able to address these three aspects of the same issue.

Objectives

The primary objective of the project was to gather relevant information on Two-year colleges, what they were offering to cater to international student's needs and how the transition was made for the international student from the Two-year College to a Four- year institution to complete a bachelor degree. A lot had been said and written about the student tracking system (SEVIS) that was designed after 9/11. It was therefore important to be more informed on the implementation of the system at the institutional level and find out how much the institutions were involved in helping international students to move from a Two-year college to a Four-year College within SEVIS.

Goals

1. Advise appropriately
2. Cater to students from low income families and give good students from that social category the possibility to have access to a US higher education
3. Change for the better the perception of Two-year colleges among parents and prospective students, and local higher education authorities
4. Help students applying to Community Colleges, to develop a better application package and define clear study plans.
5. Increase the number of students applying to Community Colleges and getting a visa, and consequently increase in a visible way, the number of students from Cote d'Ivoire studying in the US.

What did I learn?

About Community Colleges

Some Community Colleges are very old institutions that were first created as Technical centers to provide training and education to adult students in specific technical and vocational fields. Over the years these centers have developed into Community Colleges and expanded their programs to more academic fields. There are now Community Colleges all over the United States accommodating local as well as international students, and providing professional and liberal education programs. During my research I have met with and talked to people from Community Colleges who are genuinely interested in having international students on their campuses, not only for student population diversity but because these students are a source of cultural enrichment. The majority of Community colleges provide support to their international students through the International student office. Such services range from:

• Orientation upon arrival on the campus
• Academic advising, to
• Housing information prior to arriving to the US and ESL programs.
• Community Colleges have an open admission process except for programs such as those related to health that require pre-requisites.
• An international student requesting admission to a community college must have completed high school, and obtained the high school diploma or certificate that would give him entry to higher education in his/her country of origin, and show English Language proficiency by providing an adequate TOEFL score.

About the Transfer articulation process with Four Year Colleges

Almost every community college in a given area has a transfer articulation agreement with major universities in the same area. In New Orleans for example, Delgado Community College has a transfer articulation agreement with the University of New Orleans (UNO) and Tulane University. A student from Montgomery College in Maryland can transfer to George Mason University or to any major university of the area, as can a student from Northern Virginia Community College.

About the Transfer process and SEVIS

• After completion of the Associate degree (two years)
• After one year at the community college
• After one semester. A student transferring after one semester will be considered as a newly admitted student and therefore needs to provide the following: His School transcripts and high School diploma. International students attending a Community college are therefore advised to bring with them all their secondary school transcripts and diplomas in the event of such a situation.

The transfer process involves the student, the four- year university he/she is transferring to and the community college. Before a transferring student can be considered as a student of the new school he must be released by the community college.
A student transferring after one or two years must start the process at least the first semester of his final year at the community college. He is advised to contact the university he wants to transfer to, in order to get the transfer form that has to be signed by the international student office of his community college. The transfer articulation page of the university web page provides the students with valuable information on the courses they may take at their two year institution to fit in the program at the four year university.
A student transferring from a Community college to a four-year college keeps the same SEVIS number, provided he is still in good standing at the time of the transfer, and is transferring within five months of his being released from the community college.
A student with an Associate degree can transfer up to 60 credit units.

About Financial Aid

The general rule is that there is no financial aid available for international students. In some cases and where that exists, international students can apply for private aid if it is not restricted. Campus job is available depending on the availability of funds.

Institutions visited

I am thankful to the people I met at the different institutions I visited. Each person contributed to my project in a particular way by providing in-depth information on a specific aspect of my research.

1 - AMERICAN UNIVERSITY IN D.C.

At American University I met with
Assem Nasr (Sam), Senior Assistant Director, International Admission
And Fanta Aw, Director, International Student Services

American University was the first institution I visited and that was fortunate, as Sam and Fanta are very knowledgeable people in their area of expertise. They provided me with the ground information on an important part of my project: The Transfer articulation and SEVIS.
With Sam we discussed Transfer Articulation agreement, the transfer process, and the requirements for the process from the receiving institution side.
Fanta provided information on the way the process was conducted, how each partner to the system (Community College, student, and four year college) was involved. She supplied comprehensive information on SEVIS within the transfer process.

2 - DELGADO COMMUNITY COLLEGE - New Orleans, Louisiana

Delgado Community College was included in my visit schedule upon express invitation from the International Program Coordinator, Shannan Cvitanovic. I was welcomed to the college by Dr Max Reichard, Director of International Programs, who gave me a background of the college. Delgado is one of the seven community colleges of the state of Louisiana and of the two in New Orleans. It is over one hundred years old and was primarily a Technical School. The school started on a private grant for manual trade and was training adult students in automotive and aircraft maintenance. Delgado became a community college in 1971, and developed general education and liberal art education programs in 1976. The school has 3 campuses with a student population of 16.000.
The majority of these students are remedial students and adult returning students. Delgado has an interest in international education. They have established links with France, Ireland and South Africa and have programs with Mali and Ethiopia. They also have a Scholar in Residence Program for one semester to a full year.
There are presently 150 international students, the majority of whom are on the ESL program. Generally, students would, after ESL, return home or transfer to a 4 -year university in the US. Delgado Community College offers 70 degree- programs. Among the requirements for admission, the school looks at the performance in English and Mathematics. Any student lacking in these two areas must take remedial work prior to starting the academic program. The school also offers certificate programs. The attending period for these programs varies from a few weeks to a full academic year. Although Delgado Community College has an open admission policy, health programs are not open.
To be admitted at Delgado on a degree program, a student must have completed secondary school and must have received the final secondary school certificate.
I had the opportunity to pay a courtesy visit to the new Chancellor of Delgado, Dr Alex Johnson, who underlined that in the future Delgado was going to put the stress on technical programs. I talked to Yadira Dias, Professor of ESL and one of the faculty who will be in charge of international students along with Erica Willis and Silvia Bustanante of the International admission office, as the International Program office may not stay on.
I was given a complete tour of the school, and Ms Willis described the transfer process.
At Delgado the transcripts evaluation is done by a company, as there is no qualified personnel.

3 - UNIVERSITY OF NEW ORLEANS

UNO is a public university that has a transfer articulation agreement with Delgado, but they accept transfer students from any US accredited college. International students transferring from their home country must have a course-by-course evaluation and must therefore provide a course description. The evaluation is done by the staff at UNO.
At this university, I met with Dr Janice Thomas, Director, Office of International Students and Scholars, and Dr Karen Nichols, Associate Director of Transfer and International Admissions. It was encouraging for the overseas advisor that I am, to witness the enthusiasm with which Dr Thomas and Dr Nichols spoke about their work and the international students they deal with. Although the number of credits accepted for the transfer would depend on the program, the generally admitted number of credit units is 60 for a student transferring from a community College and having completed two years, and 90 credit units for a student who transfers from a 4-year college and has completed 3 years of study.

4 - TULANE

I met with William Lennon, Executive Director, Center for International Student and Scholars. We discussed the transfer articulation agreement with Delgado, the transfer process, and general issues such as undergraduate admissions and various programs offered by the university.
Tulane started in 1834 as a school of Medicine, and became comprehensive later on.

5 - MONTGOMERY COLLEGE

Montgomery College in Maryland has three campuses: Rockville Campus, Takoma Campus and a third campus in Germantown. The nursing program at Montgomery is their 'star' program with high Tech quality facilities. It is a very competitive program, where students are given an excellent training and education. I was amazed at how well equipped they were and how studying in such an environment would be beneficial to our nursing students.
Ms Deborah T. Crutchfield, acting site coordinator of the new Nursing Building, gave us a complete tour of the facilities.
With Robert E. Batten, the International Student Coordinator, we talked about the transfer process, student housing, and financial aid. It is not surprising that Montgomery College does not offer any housing services/assistance to international students, as the majority if not all of them, have already somewhere to stay when they apply. Montgomery College has a transfer articulation agreement with most Universities in the Area: University College, University of Maryland, University of Baltimore…

6 - GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY

I met with Sandarshi Gunawardena, Assistant Director, Office of International Programs and Services, together with other colleagues on the program. Ms Gunawardena was able to show us a transfer form on the computer, with all the details that must be supplied by and for each transferring student.
With Larry D. Beatty we discussed undergraduate admissions, and general issues such as cooperating with foreign universities or establishing a transfer articulation agreement.

7 - NORTHERN VIRGINIA COMMUNITY COLLEGE

The last School I visited was Northern Virginia Community College (Annandale campus). Nova has 6 campuses with a student population of 60.000 people. The campuses have students from Nigeria, Ghana Ethiopia and Egypt. The school offers academic as well as occupational programs. They have a transfer articulation agreement with all Public universities and with some private ones. Campus work is available to international students.
At Northern Virginia Community College I met first with Mynora J. Bryant, Coordinator, Counseling and Student Activities, and Juneious J. Tucker, Counselor Student Development. They both provided me with general information about the institution and the services available on their campuses.
I had a very interesting conversation with Stephen J. Bennett, about what is expected by the colleges from international students when they come in. Mr. Bennett is the International Services Coordinator. The conversation with him made me aware of the fact that the information given to US bound students during pre departure orientations should not only be given at that particular moment but should be part of advising at all times.

OUTCOMES OF THE PROGRAM

After visiting Community Colleges and Universities for the purpose of this program, and talking to Ms Judy Irwin, Director of International Programs and Services, American Association of Community Colleges, would I recommend Community Colleges to my students?
Yes I would, but I would make sure that the school:

• has an International Student Office
• provides orientation for at least one full day
• has residential halls, and if not provides housing information prior to student's departure to the US.
• be located in an area where housing is not too costly. This latter item would not apply in the case the prospective student has family or friends to accommodate him.

Community Colleges have the advantage of being a relatively small learning community where international students are given close attention and care both by faculty and staff. This is important as the majority of these students from Low income family background are leaving their homeland for the very first time, and therefore need to be in an environment where they'll feel less threatened and lost.
Community colleges offer a large variety of academic as well as professional programs and are equipped to meet the needs of all prospective students who plan to enter the job market after two years or plan to embark on a long academic study program.

In order to increase the chances of getting admission and of getting a visa to attend a community college, prospective students and parents need to be aware of the fact that applying to a community college requires as much time and preparation as applying to a four-year institution. And this is where the Advising Center can be most useful.

The Center will:

• make a large circulation of the information on Community Colleges,
• bring students to understand the necessity to develop a detailed study plan
• meet parents of prospective students to discuss financial planning for their child's education in the US.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

I have discovered that the people working at Community Colleges, both staff and faculty, are dedicated to their work and very knowledgeable in their areas of expertise. They are very enthusiastic and genuinely interested in dealing with international students. The majority of Community Colleges are opening to international students, and therefore creating the necessary services to accommodate them. Community Colleges are far from being technical centers where students who have failed would apply just to have a means of getting into the US. They are highly valued academic institutions as well as technical education centers that provide both local and international attendees with the necessary educational and technical tools to enter the professional world or have access to 4-year academic institutions.

In order to make this known by all the people involved in dealing with international student population entering the US, it is necessary for the Community Colleges to embark on a marketing program where they would show what they have to offer, and provide a positive and forward looking image of themselves to the right officials. This mission is part of the services that the AACC intend to provide for their members.
I was fortunate to have been part of this PAL program. Both components (Research project and leadership seminar) provided a new opportunity to rediscover myself and make new commitments for my work as educational advisor.
My plan from now is to make an exhaustive report with all details provided by the schools on the components of the research project, under the form of a booklet with both French and English versions.

Cecile Imboua-Niava
June 2004