Christina VarvisThe following is part one of three in a series detailing the experiences of international students at the University of Alberta.
Second-year international student Dante Zhu wore a deep navy wool overcoat over a floral-patterned button-up, with a short, cropped undercut to his interview.
“I haven’t slept for four days,” Zhu said.
He showed no fatigue.
Zhu is majoring in political science and minoring in economics. He moved to Canada from China when he was 15 and attended high school in BC. Before attending the University of Alberta, he spent some time in Europe as part of an exchange program to speak a few of the five languages he knows. Habituated to a European model of social funding, U of A tuition costs shocked him.
“Most people (in Canada) compare their tuition to students (in the United States),” he said. “But (American) students pay the highest amount of tuition on the planet. It’s crazy.”
Those considered affluent on other continents aren’t necessarily rich in Canada, as Zhu knows all too well. His parents and some wealthy relatives fund the majority of his tuition while he works at McDonald’s to pay for living expenses. Another source of income was provided by a distant friend, and Zhu became desperate when that funding was cut off. On top of all that, market modifier tuition increases came into effect at the beginning of this academic year, raising the cost of each economics course by approximately $500, from $2,000 to $2,500. Zhu said he was “horrified.” He’s relieved that he only needs to complete eight economics classes for his minor.
Many international students are subject to what Zhu called “a dilemma” that involves heavy work and studying schedules. Zhu wakes up at around 4 a.m. to work his shift at McDonald’s at 6 a.m.
“Around (6 p.m.) it’s dark like hell (in Edmonton),” he said. “I have to clean the lobby. I have to clean washrooms. This is humiliation for a guy.”
Zhu took the job since it was the only one that worked with his five-class schedule, a course load many international students endure in order to complete a degree as quickly as possible while paying as little as possible.
After class, Zhu spends as much time as he can in the library before going home to his room in a frat house. Zhu characterized Greek life as “the whitest thing you can find.”
“(Living in a frat house) is my last choice because it’s so noisy,” Zhu said, who lives there because of the low rent. “People expect you to party with them. I’m not a party guy. I’m not like them. They’re free all the time, they’re Canadians, they don’t have to worry about the government and loans. They don’t need to graduate in four years.”
Such a bind is especially problematic for students like Zhu who aspire to managerial or governmental positions. Since most waking hours are spent either working or studying, there is little time or energy left to network or socialize. Especially in the sociability of a frat house, an odd man out who participates in a limited capacity can easily dismissed as being “weird.”
“You can’t just tell people,” Zhu said. “They won’t understand.
“As an international student, you’re under lots of pressure and you feel lonely. Not because you work and study all the time but because you have trouble integrating into society.”
Integration and more specifically, being considered integrated, is a problem for Zhu. He’s lived in Canada for a number of years, and while he speaks English with an accent, he’s “pretty westernized in terms of mindset.” Although he’s legally an international student and often assumed to be so, he conceded that his identity is a “blur.”
“It has given me major pain,” Zhu said. “When (Chinese) come to Canada, they think I’m a foreigner because I speak English all the time. And Canadians think ‘Oh, you’re not Canadian. You have a different passport.’”
Last year, he was involved in a political campaign.
“At a certain stage I was sort of thinking ‘maybe I’m a local already.’ But it’s an illusion.”
His situation is distinct, but his identity troubles are shared by those who are persistently asked, ‘Where are you really from?’
“Lots of people don’t know international students, but if you get to know them, lots of them are like me, or (in) worse (situations) than me. They speak perfect English, but they still can’t immigrate,” he said.
Working his dream job as an immigration officer isn’t possible to for him in Canada, Zhu said, because although he could empathize with the people he’s serving, he’s not a permanent resident or a Canadian citizen.
Returning to China isn’t an option for Zhu. If he can’t obtain his papers in Canada within two or three years after graduating, with his knowledge of five different languages, he expects he’ll be paying off that tuition in a different currency.
“I may go somewhere else.”
Dante, while I do sympathize with your situation and
that of international students—and especially after having spent more than $50K
for two years-worth of tuition without any external funding or help—I do
disagree with certain things that you said that may only encourage resentment
from domestic students (and Canadians in general). So I would like to apologize
to anyone that might have felt offended by this interview and ask you to
understand that international students have MANY diverse points of view and you
should probably not take everything expressed here as our common feeling. For
some of us, English is not our first language, so that might be an issue too. Please,
bear with us.
“I have to clean the lobby. I have to clean washrooms. This is humiliation
for a guy.” I am truly sorry that you think that having that job is
“humiliation for a guy.” I really hope that we can attribute that
statement to a language barrier.
“Zhu characterized Greek life as ‘the whitest thing you can find.'”
This sounds a bit wrong.
“(Living in a frat house) is my last choice because it’s so noisy.” There
are cheaper, quieter options. Ask around, do some research; although, some of
those choices may not be as conveniently located. Greek life is a good fit for
some but not for others, we can respect that.
“They’re free all the time, they’re Canadians, they don’t have to worry about
the government and loans. They don’t need to graduate in four years.” This is
wrong in so many levels. I think this only shows ignorance with respect to
education funding locally and even with respect to the culture. A Canadian citizenship
does not make everything easy and simple. Canadians are not necessarily free
all the time and some of us do know that many of you have to work as hard as any
international student, and sometimes even harder. There is absolutely nothing
wrong with being Canadian, in case you understood that statement as such.
Student debt is a huge and major issue, especially here in Alberta, and should
not be underestimated just because international student tuition is higher.
That being said, I’m sure that most of domestic students would love to graduate
in four years, but absolutely can’t because they work two, three jobs to afford
university, or for whatever other reason. International students don’t HAVE to
graduate in four years either, but it is economically safer sometimes to try to
do so—same for domestic students.
That being said, I do agree that international students face a very heavy
burden when coming to study at the UofA. There are language and cultural
barriers that are very hard to overcome, not to mention economic barriers.
International tuition is around three times higher than domestic tuition and
most international students come from countries that are poorer than Canada.
International tuition is not regulated either, which makes it very unpredictable—so
it’s hard to know if we will be able to afford it for the duration of our
programs, because it can go up many thousands of dollars from one year to the
other, as it happened recently. This does not free domestic students from the
many burdens that they do have to overcome to afford studying at the
university.
I am not saying that domestic and international
students are in the same position. But I think that the only acceptable reason
to focus on the difference among the two groups should be to try to improve
everybody’s situation. International students sometimes have a different
cultural background, but that’s also an opportunity for us to learn and even adopt
aspects that we like from the local culture, and an opportunity for locals to
do the same with our culture. Help each other. We all lose if domestic students
resent international students, or the other way around. We can find support in
each other, we can help each other out to overcome all the challenges we face
just to get access to quality education. The more we start doing that, the
easier it will be for us international students to integrate to society, and
the easier it will be for locals to integrate with us too. We’re not here to
point out how privileged locals are in their own country or for locals to point
out how privileged we are to even be here. We are here to learn from locals, to
offer them whatever knowledge we can provide, to work together to improve
access to education in Alberta. We have a lot in common too.
Haha Diego, thank you for your comment. I didn’t say I felt humiliated by cleaning the washroom, I did mention that picking up female sanitary towel while cleaning the female washroom is a humiliation(that’s a cultural thing). And please forgive me for my rush comments during the interview because in fact I haven’t “slept for four days”
This pissed me off. “They’re free all the time, they’re Canadians, they don’t have to worry about the government or loans.”
Get a reality check Dante. Even if we don’t pay international tuition, we still have loans, and many of us don’t have the luxury of having “parent and some wealthy relatives fund[ing] the majority of [our] tuition.”
I have over $30,000 in loans from the governments, in one of the worst provinces to get loans in. I’m Canadian, I work two jobs while in school, and I receive $0 from family or “a distant friend.”
This is why I get frustrated with International Students. Not all of us Canadians are living off of mommy and daddy’s money. I have friends who didn’t qualify for loans because their parents made too much, and refused to pay for their school. They can’t afford to take full time classes because they just don’t have the cash. So give me a break, and actually learn a bit about how our funding works. Unless you have a high GPA or are part of a minority that receives funding (e.g, people with disabilities) then you can kiss any free money goodbye. Honestly, cry some more. If international students can’t afford to be here, then don’t come here. I understand the reasoning behind going places for education, but if you can’t afford it, then that’s that. Don’t bitch about a decision you made for yourself. Also, as I understand it, Greek life is more expensive then regular housing and has separate fees, so maybe you should leave and cut costs if you’re so inconvenienced by the Greek life. /rant
Hi, Anon. I did not say “they don’t have to worry about the government or loans” during the interview, in fact, I did mention that having “loans” and other forms of support can greatly ease my burden as an international student. For the other comments that may seem offensive to you, I do apologize for that and please be aware that “i haven’t slept for four days” during the interview.