tduby1
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Post by tduby1 on Sept 30, 2017 3:00:45 GMT
My son is a college freshman at our local community college who has befriended an international student, from Nigeria, who is also a freshman, attending the community college while he saves money to go on to the local U of M campus.
His parents paid for his first month rent (a room in a house, that houses the landlord and other international students) and told him he had to pay from there out and for his tuition. He has no transportation, walks to school, and can not drive. He told my son he has no idea how to get a job or even where. I have no idea of what advice my son should give him.
I have no idea how he's eating (money wise) and DS has told him to let us know if he needs food.
DS went and picked him tonight to take him to our towns homecoming football game. When we met him we told him to let him know if there is anything we can help him with, food etc. He knows absolutely no one but a few international students and my son. He told me tonight he's scared to meet people. He's afraid people won't accept him. We reiterated he should let us know if we can do anything to help but he seemed very shy about accepting.
if transportation wasn't an issue we would take him into our home in a heartbeat. But we have no way of getting him to from/ school, work etc, as we all have our own schedules, and we live about 20 miles from the school.
He he is such a nice young man. He sent DS a very nice text after he dropped him off tonight thanking him. DS says he hasn't done anything except go to class since he's been here. He just stays in his room/ goes to class.
So so my question- do colleges have some kinds of services, or an office where someone can help navigate him getting a job and acclimating? I would hate to see him fail because lack of support alone but have no idea which way to point him for help.
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scrapaddie
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,090
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Post by scrapaddie on Sept 30, 2017 3:16:02 GMT
Most colleges do have strong support for international students and I am surprised he us not receiving help already. You described this as a community college? It may be too small.
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Post by bc2ca on Sept 30, 2017 3:24:15 GMT
Our local community colleges have an office that co-ordinates the applications and provides support for international students. Check the website for your DS's college as it should all be listed, possibly in the applications section. The visa process requires proof of financial means to support yourself for the school year and I wouldn't expect him to be able to work on a student visa.
I think it is awesome that your DS has befriended him.
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Deleted
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Jun 2, 2024 0:53:28 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Sept 30, 2017 3:28:54 GMT
My son is a college freshman at our local community college who has befriended an international student, from Nigeria, who is also a freshman, attending the community college while he saves money to go on to the local U of M campus. His parents paid for his first month rent (a room in a house, that houses the landlord and other international students) and told him he had to pay from there out and for his tuition. He has no transportation, walks to school, and can not drive. He told my son he has no idea how to get a job or even where. I have no idea of what advice my son should give him. I have no idea how he's eating (money wise) and DS has told him to let us know if he needs food. DS went and picked him tonight to take him to our towns homecoming football game. When we met him we told him to let him know if there is anything we can help him with, food etc. He knows absolutely no one but a few international students and my son. He told me tonight he's scared to meet people. He's afraid people won't accept him. We reiterated he should let us know if we can do anything to help but he seemed very shy about accepting. if transportation wasn't an issue we would take him into our home in a heartbeat. But we have no way of getting him to from/ school, work etc, as we all have our own schedules, and we live about 20 miles from the school. He he is such a nice young man. He sent DS a very nice text after he dropped him off tonight thanking him. DS says he hasn't done anything except go to class since he's been here. He just stays in his room/ goes to class. So so my question- do colleges have some kinds of services, or an office where someone can help navigate him getting a job and acclimating? I would hate to see him fail because lack of support alone but have no idea which way to point him for help. If the college has an international student it MUST have an international student services office. Students here on an F1 visa cannot legally work anywhere except on campus. Before he arrived he had to prove his family had the funds for one full academic year... now granted, it is possible for a family to pull funding after the student arrives. But your first action should be to help him tap into the resources at the college. There HAS to be an international office for him to even be at the school to start with. We are required to provide activities specifically for international students. Your son can also get involved with the international activities if that will help the other kid bridge the friend gap. eta, what ever the campus calls their international student services (most common designation) they CAN help him with the process he has to go through to get a job. The help he needs IS there but he has to reach out to the immigration office on campus to get help. |
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Post by zztop11 on Sept 30, 2017 3:56:34 GMT
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Jun 2, 2024 0:53:28 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Sept 30, 2017 4:00:59 GMT
tduby1 you have peamail on how to read his documents to find a name/contact for the specific person to contact on campus.
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Post by Marina on Sept 30, 2017 4:23:16 GMT
My son has friends with international students who are at his high school. I know the roommate of one girl has a green card and so is not considered a typical "international student" and she has a job. I did a quick google and they are supposed to be provided with full support for the first year even if working on campus. I can't imagine sending your kid off and cutting off support like that. Poor guy! www.immihelp.com/visas/studentvisa/working-parttime.html |
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Post by crittsmom on Sept 30, 2017 5:53:27 GMT
Check with the local churches too, our church asks for volunteers at the beginning of the school year to help the international students, with opening accounts, getting household stuff etc. And just to sit and visit so they can practice speaking English.
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tduby1
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,979
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Post by tduby1 on Sept 30, 2017 10:22:49 GMT
My son is a college freshman at our local community college who has befriended an international student, from Nigeria, who is also a freshman, attending the community college while he saves money to go on to the local U of M campus. His parents paid for his first month rent (a room in a house, that houses the landlord and other international students) and told him he had to pay from there out and for his tuition. He has no transportation, walks to school, and can not drive. He told my son he has no idea how to get a job or even where. I have no idea of what advice my son should give him. I have no idea how he's eating (money wise) and DS has told him to let us know if he needs food. DS went and picked him tonight to take him to our towns homecoming football game. When we met him we told him to let him know if there is anything we can help him with, food etc. He knows absolutely no one but a few international students and my son. He told me tonight he's scared to meet people. He's afraid people won't accept him. We reiterated he should let us know if we can do anything to help but he seemed very shy about accepting. if transportation wasn't an issue we would take him into our home in a heartbeat. But we have no way of getting him to from/ school, work etc, as we all have our own schedules, and we live about 20 miles from the school. He he is such a nice young man. He sent DS a very nice text after he dropped him off tonight thanking him. DS says he hasn't done anything except go to class since he's been here. He just stays in his room/ goes to class. So so my question- do colleges have some kinds of services, or an office where someone can help navigate him getting a job and acclimating? I would hate to see him fail because lack of support alone but have no idea which way to point him for help. If the college has an international student it MUST have an international student services office. Students here on an F1 visa cannot legally work anywhere except on campus. Before he arrived he had to prove his family had the funds for one full academic year... now granted, it is possible for a family to pull funding after the student arrives. But your first action should be to help him tap into the resources at the college. There HAS to be an international office for him to even be at the school to start with. We are required to provide activities specifically for international students. Your son can also get involved with the international activities if that will help the other kid bridge the friend gap. eta, what ever the campus calls their international student services (most common designation) they CAN help him with the process he has to go through to get a job. The help he needs IS there but he has to reach out to the immigration office on campus to get help. This is good information! Thanks voltagain. The part about having to work on campus- first DS did say that and then he told us the part about him not knowing how to find a job. while, he speaks very good English, sometimes once he gets speaking, it can be harder to understand him, so I am not sure if DS misunderstood or the young man is confused- or what. Ds ds originally invited him to spend last night but he went home because he did have an activity with his international group this morning, so that matches up with what you are saying and the fact they all room together in a boarding house, makes me wonder if the landlord doesn't work with the school to room these kids. DS was ipunclear about all that and I was worried about him housing with a stranger. DS is not good at being nosy. He just takes info he gets from this kid and tries to piece it together so it all sounded so much more drastic to us than it probably is. I will pass all the info on to DS in case the young man does need it but for now, between this and the PM ypu have set my mind at ea |
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tduby1
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,979
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Post by tduby1 on Sept 30, 2017 10:26:03 GMT
Most colleges do have strong support for international students and I am surprised he us not receiving help already. You described this as a community college? It may be too small. I received a lot of info in this thread and a pm regarding this. It is possible he is receiving this help and DS isn't aware. I will have DS ask him if he utilizing the resources the chool offers. Thank you  |
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tduby1
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,979
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Post by tduby1 on Sept 30, 2017 10:30:42 GMT
Check with the local churches too, our church asks for volunteers at the beginning of the school year to help the international students, with opening accounts, getting household stuff etc. And just to sit and visit so they can practice speaking English. Thank you for the suggestion. I hadnt thought of churches as a resource. |
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tduby1
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,979
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Post by tduby1 on Sept 30, 2017 10:31:58 GMT
My son has friends with international students who are at his high school. I know the roommate of one girl has a green card and so is not considered a typical "international student" and she has a job. I did a quick google and they are supposed to be provided with full support for the first year even if working on campus. I can't imagine sending your kid off and cutting off support like that. Poor guy! www.immihelp.com/visas/studentvisa/working-parttime.htmlThis matches the info Volt gave me. I'm hoping his parents are able to come through for him in the end. |
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tduby1
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,979
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Post by tduby1 on Sept 30, 2017 10:32:42 GMT
Thank you for the link. I will check it out and pass it along! |
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tduby1
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,979
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Post by tduby1 on Sept 30, 2017 10:39:59 GMT
Our local community colleges have an office that co-ordinates the applications and provides support for international students. Check the website for your DS's college as it should all be listed, possibly in the applications section. The visa process requires proof of financial means to support yourself for the school year and I wouldn't expect him to be able to work on a student visa. I think it is awesome that your DS has befriended him. Thank you! He speaks really good English but it can become jumbled once he starts going so I wonder if DS misunderstood the stood the part about looking for a job off campus, because originally DS understood he did have to work on campus. |
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keithurbanlovinpea
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Flowing with the go...
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Post by keithurbanlovinpea on Sept 30, 2017 14:46:02 GMT
One thing you might consider, rather than asking him what he needs, is to pick him up and take him to Target, the grocery store, etc. He might need to purchase some food or basic personal care items, and has no way to do that. Even better if you can find somewhere that might have items he is familiar with from his home country (I live in a city where finding a Nigerian market or restaurant is easy because we have a large community here), and then he can find items that he misses. If he knows how to cook any of his native foods, offer to buy ingredients and let him come over to make a meal.
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tduby1
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,979
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Post by tduby1 on Sept 30, 2017 16:13:27 GMT
One thing you might consider, rather than asking him what he needs, is to pick him up and take him to Target, the grocery store, etc. He might need to purchase some food or basic personal care items, and has no way to do that. Even better if you can find somewhere that might have items he is familiar with from his home country (I live in a city where finding a Nigerian market or restaurant is easy because we have a large community here), and then he can find items that he misses. If he knows how to cook any of his native foods, offer to buy ingredients and let him come over to make a meal. Great suggestions! Thank you! |
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