How has Tufts supported international students during the pandemic?
This has been a very common question among prospective students. We all know international students in the U.S. face many challenges during their years in college. For many of us, a college experience abroad may be the first time out of our country. Before coming to Tufts, I had never left Brazil. When I moved to Boston, everything looked different, including the weather, language, and culture.
But we also face professional and academic challenges. We usually have a hard time finding internships because companies rarely want to sponsor our work VISA. We may struggle to find external sources of college funding too, since most aid available at U.S. universities is for U.S. citizens only. These hardships are even worse during freshman and sophomore years. There are studies that say international students are 56% more likely to get a C grade or below in the first two years of college when compared to domestic students.
Additionally, it is not news to anyone that the COVID-19 pandemic has made it even worse for us. I have read news articles of international students facing food insecurity and homelessness because of limitations in their financial aid packages.
I am proud of my school for helping students like me going through tough times during the pandemic. Tufts has guaranteed housing and meal plans to international students who were not able to go home. For example, Tufts has covered the full cost of my summer housing and meal plan. I have also received aid from the school’s COVID-19 relief fund. Tufts has paid for my flight tickets and helped me return to my strongest support system at home in Brazil.
Of course, there were things that went wrong too. I know students that received a very short eviction notice from the school when the pandemic started in March. The school hasn’t decreased the price of tuition for the current academic year despite advocacy from students to reduce tuition costs. Still, I think Tufts has done a wonderful job in supporting international students.
One of my favorite Tufts projects has been the International Peer Advising program. I had the wonderful opportunity to work at the International Center advising first and second year international students at Tufts. This was a project that helped younger students with their adjustment to Tufts and the U.S. through peer-to-peer support and guidance. As one of the peer advisors, I had meetings with the I Center staff to plan semester projects, facilitated a session on how to find an internship after freshman or sophomore year, and even held office hours for students.
I am glad that Tufts has taken the initiative to support international students through the pandemic. I am also grateful for having the chance to contribute to it. I think other schools can learn a lot from Tufts. The happy news is that the International Peer Advising program will continue in 2021, so we will likely see many other stories of people who will benefit from Tufts’ policies toward international students.