The University of Maryland GSG president approved two resolutions last Wednesday calling on this university to lower fees and administrative costs for international students.
The Graduate Student Government legislature voted in favor of the two resolutions, which were first introduced at its general assembly meeting on Feb. 28. The legislation calls on this university to change the fee structure for Maryland English Institute courses — English classes offered for non-native speakers — and to abolish the $125 per semester international student fee, respectively.
The first resolution, which representatives voted to approve 21-1-1, calls for this university to make MEI courses for credit or to cover the course fees. The resolution states that the classes, which are required for students who didn’t pass an English proficiency exam upon admission to this university, can carry additional fees of thousands of dollars which cannot be covered by tuition remission because they are not offered for credit.
Some departments choose to cover the course fees but several others do not, according to the resolution.
The second resolution, which representatives approved 18-2-3, says the $125 per semester international student fee is “inequitable.”
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“This fee is an additional burden to a group that is already financially stressed due to visa-related costs, restrictions on secondary employment and lack of access to major federal grants, in addition to other immigration-related vulnerabilities,” the resolution read.
Divon Pender, GSG’s legislative affairs vice president, said since both pieces of legislation are approved, they will be sent to relevant parties, including the university president’s office, International Student and Scholar Services, and the student affairs vice president. The legislation will serve as the body’s official position, Pender added.
“In the future or in the long term, someone can’t say, ‘Oh, well, graduate students are okay with it,’” the higher education, student affairs and international education policy graduate student said. “No, they’re not, because they’ve actually passed this legislation to show that they’re actually opposing what it is that’s going on.”
In 2017, graduate students said the implementation of the international student fee did not follow the required review process for mandatory fees, The Diamondback previously reported. Neither the university’s student fees review committee nor the GSG were involved or consulted during the initial creation of the fee, The Diamondback reported.
University president Darryll Pines said in an interview with The Diamondback the academic affairs division and several other offices at this university are looking at ways to provide financial assistance for some MEI courses through graduate assistantships.
Graduate teaching assistants who have to take the MEI English course have their fees covered, according to the Maryland English Institute website.
GSG neuroscience and cognitive science representative Rose Ying is an author of both resolutions.
“I know many [international students] who came here with $100 in their pocket, who worked really hard to get here just to be able to continue their education,” the neuroscience and cognitive science doctoral student said. “I feel like the university sees international students as an extra revenue source.”
Ying said as an organizer with the Graduate Labor Union, she has heard numerous complaints about the lack of communication from the university and the financial stress placed on students from the mandatory MEI courses.
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Javier Marinkovic, a computer science doctoral student from Chile, said he did not receive adequate communication about the high price of the required MEI courses before enrolling in them.
Marinkovic said he did not pass his first English proficiency exam, so he took an MEI course. He thought the course would cost about $100 or $200, but said he was charged about $3,000.
“[Graduate students] usually live paycheck to paycheck and suddenly getting a fee of more than my monthly stipend was world ending,” Marinkovic said. “When they told me I would have to pay this, all these thoughts came to my mind, like how I’m going to pay rent this month, how I’m going to get food.”
Marinkovic said he went to the graduate school, the computer science department and the Maryland English Institute to ask for help covering the fee. He said he was able to bring the fee down to about $1,000, which he had to pay out of pocket from his savings and with some help from friends.
Pines said he thinks the international student fee is reasonable as it funds infrastructure, programs and services that are used “solely to support international students.”
Pines added that this university works to reduce costs for graduate students through changes including moving about $500 of mandatory fees to students’ tuition, which allows some students to cover them through tuition remission.
Marinkovic said the international student fee hurts the people who can afford to pay it the least.
“We have to either have savings or family who support us,” Marinkovic said. “But people who don’t have either of these, I don’t know how the hell they do it.”
