When Samantha (not her real name) enrolled in community college in the U.S., her family at home in South Africa scrimped and saved to support her.
But the COVID-19 pandemic hurt the family’s finances, and at one point Samantha had four on-campus jobs just to make ends meet. Many in the U.S. believe international students are wealthy sources of funding for universities, but stories like Samantha’s suggest otherwise.
Andrea Gutierrez reports for The World. (March 2024)