School Exchanges May Run Afoul Of New Law Foreign Students Required To Pay Full Cost Of Public Education

An obscure clause in the new federal immigration law could scuttle school-exchange programs by requiring those foreign students to pay the full, unsubsidized cost of their public education before entering the country.

Previously, those costs would be covered by local and state taxes received by the host school districts.

While the new law was intended to curb immigration abuses, “it has the unintended effect of stopping programs that are not abusive at all,” said Jenny Hill, executive director of the American Russian Educational Exchange.

She recently spent about $28,000 of her operating budget to pay the prorated educational costs for 11 teenagers from the Russian Far East rather than cancel their five-month stay in Washington state.

The new provision is part of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act, which went into effect Nov. 30. A clause in the law requires students in grades nine through 12 to pay their full, unsubsidized public educational costs before entering the United States on F-1 visas.

Those visas are typically sought by students in small or informal programs, including exchanges arranged by individuals, schools or sister cities. Students on F-1 visas previously could stay for years; now their visits are limited to 12 months.

The changes do not affect such established exchange programs as Youth for Understanding, American Field Service and Rotary. Students in those programs enter the country on one-year, J-1 visas, which are exempted from the new law.

Sponsors of the legislation, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said the provision is targeted toward so-called “parachute kids.”

Those students are described as children from wealthy foreign families who enter the country on F-1 visas to live with relatives and to enroll in private schools. But the students subsequently leave the private schools and “parachute” into the public school system, at no cost to the students.

The current number of exchange students under both visa programs in Washington may be about 2,000, with perhaps half holding F-1 visas, estimated Larry Strickland, who supervises international education for the state school superintendent’s office.

Supporters of student exchange programs say international students enrich the educational experiences of Washington students as well. They say the change in law is particularly damaging to a globally conscious area such as Washington.

“If we start charging students, the governments over there are going to reciprocate,” said Olympia resident Denise Keegan, who has placed about 200 foreign students in Washington schools over the past 12 years.

“It’s going to reduce the opportunities our students have to be involved,” she said. “I thought we were opening doors. Why this added restriction at a time when our society is becoming more global?”

But even some advocates of student exchanges support the new provision.

“From my perspective, and I think I speak for a lot of school districts, there are a lot of immigrants who come in who can afford to pay for these services - and should. It’s at taxpayers’ expense,” said Cynthia Rekdal, administrator for world language, culture and international education for Seattle Public Schools.

The changed law “may make some organizations or individuals jump through the hoops or not have access (to U.S. public schools) as readily as in the past,” but it shouldn’t be a deterrent for well-to-do foreign families, Rekdal said.

She said the district should offer grants and scholarships to help less wealthy foreign students come to Seattle.