First Steps Studing Use

An Introduction
his is the VOA Special English EDUCATION REPORT.

A listener in Poland recently sent us an e-mail. Slawek Loboda writes: "There are many American universities
and colleges that provide long distance education to the world. The trouble is that each university says that it is
the best. After an hour of searching and reading what they have in their offer, one gets a headache. You simply
don't know whom to trust and what to choose."
Slawek goes on to say, "I have been listening to VOA for years and I would trust you if you made an interesting
program about American universities for foreigners. Is there a university that you could recommend?"
Well, choosing a school is an individual decision. But we may be able to help inform that decision.
Slawek's letter happened to come at just the right time. It gives us the perfect opening for not just one program,
but a series -- our Foreign Student Series. We update the series every two years to provide fresh information for
anyone interested in higher education in America.
The United States has more than four thousand colleges and universities to choose from. They come in all sizes
-- from a few hundred students to enough to populate a city. And students may not even have to be in the United
States to take classes. Some universities have campuses in other countries. And, as Slawek pointed out, many
programs are offered over the Internet.
Over the coming weeks, we will talk all about the American system of higher education. Our reports will take
you inside some of the nation's colleges and universities. We will explore programs of study and report on
student life. We will talk about financial aid and employment, and about admissions tests and English language
requirements.
We will also explain the process for becoming an international student in the United States. And we will talk
about how the terrorist attacks of September eleventh, two thousand one, changed some of the rules.
Many of the subjects in our Foreign Student Series are based on your questions and suggestions. So keep them
coming! Send e-mail to special@voanews.com, or click on the Contact Us link at voaspecialenglish.com. Or
write to VOA Special English, Washington, D.C., two zero two three seven U.S.A.
In case you miss any of the programs, our Foreign Student Series will be archived at voaspecialenglish.com.
And that's the VOA Special English EDUCATION REPORT, written by Nancy Steinbach. I'm Steve Ember.
First Steps
This is the VOA Special English EDUCATION REPORT.
This week in our Foreign Student Series, we discuss the first steps for students interested in higher education in
the United States.
One place to go for advice and information about American colleges and universities is an EducationUSA
center. More than four hundred of these educational advising centers are located around the world.
The advisers at EducationUSA centers do not charge any money for their services. They help students find
schools and get information about financial aid, admissions tests and visa requirements.
The centers are supported by the State Department. You can find the nearest one on the State Department's Web
site for international students. The address is educationusa.state.gov. Again, it's educationusa.state.gov.
Another place to get information is at an educational fair. Representatives of American colleges and universities
present information and answer questions from students and their parents.
The Institute of International Education has been organizing United States Higher Education Fairs in Asia since
nineteen eighty-two. Last year, more than fourteen thousand students attended these fairs in China, India,
Indonesia, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam.

The next higher education fairs in Asia are in October. For example, more than seventy colleges and universities
will have representatives in Hong Kong on October eleventh.
Other organizations hold similar events in other parts of the world. Information about educational fairs in your
country can be found at the same Web site, educationusa.state.gov.
One important piece of advice -- give yourself plenty of time to plan your studies in the United States.
Educational advisers say you should begin planning at least two years before you want to start classes.
If you have a question for our series on American higher education, send it to special@voanews.com. Or use the
Contact Us link at voaspecialenglish.com. Make sure to tell us who and where you are. We might answer your
question on our program in the weeks ahead.
And that's the VOA Special English EDUCATION REPORT, written by Nancy Steinbach. Transcripts and
MP3s of our Foreign Student Series, and a link to the EducationUSA Web site, are at voaspecialenglish.com.
I'm Steve Ember.
College, University or Institute?

Americans use the term "college students" to mean students either in colleges or universities. Not only that,
Americans almost never say "going off to university" or "when I was in university." That sounds British.
Instead, they say "going off to college" and "when I was in college."
College, university: what's the difference? We answer that this week in part three of our Foreign Student Series
on American higher education.
Colleges and universities have many things in common. Both offer undergraduate degrees in the arts and
sciences, for example. And both can help prepare young people to earn a living.
But many colleges do not offer graduate studies. Another difference is that universities are generally bigger.
They offer more programs and do more research.
Another place of higher education, especially in technical areas, is an institute, like the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology. Yet even an institute of technology can offer a wide choice of programs and activities. M.I.T.
says that seventy-five percent of freshmen come there with a strong interest and involvement in the arts.
Modern universities developed from those of Europe in the Middle Ages. The word "university" came from the
Latin universitas, describing a group of people organized for a common purpose.
"College" came from collegium, a Latin word with a similar meaning. In England, colleges were formed to
provide students with places to live. Usually each group was studying the same thing. So college came to mean
an area of study.
The first American universities divided their studies into a number of areas and called each one a college. This
is still true.
A college can also be a part of a university. For example, Harvard College is the undergraduate part of Harvard
University.
Programs in higher learning can also be called schools, like a school of engineering or a medical school within a
college or university. You know, learning all these terms is an education in itself.
And that's the VOA Special English EDUCATION REPORT, written by Nancy Steinbach. Our reports are at
voaspecialenglish.com.
We invite your questions for our Foreign Student Series. We cannot offer any personal advice or assistance. But
we might be able to answer a general question during our series.
Be sure to tell us your name and where you are. Write to special@voanews.com or use the Contact Us link at
voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.
Public or Private?
Today, in week four of our Foreign Student Series, we discuss differences between public and private in
American higher education.
A big difference involves money. Public colleges and universities charge for an education just like private
schools. But state schools cost less because they get money from the states that started them to educate local
citizens. As a result, out-of-state and international students usually pay more than state residents, at least the
first year.
The state with the most residents, almost forty million, is California. Its systems of two-year and four-year
colleges and universities are among the largest in the world.
But the example we are going to focus on today is to the north of California, in a much smaller state on the West
Coast: Oregon.
The University of Oregon, located in Eugene, is one of the campuses in the Oregon University System. The cost
for undergraduates this year is six thousand dollars for state residents. Housing is an additional eight thousand.
Nonresidents pay the same for housing -- but almost twenty thousand dollars for tuition and fees.
Let's see how these numbers compare to a private college in Oregon.
Lewis and Clark College in Portland has four thousand students, compared to twenty thousand at the University
of Oregon. Housing costs eight hundred dollars more than at the state school. But the big difference is tuition.
The published price at Lewis and Clark is almost thirty-four thousand dollars.
Yet Lewis and Clark is one of the few American colleges to offer financial aid for international students. Each
year it awards financial aid to twenty students from other countries. And it says the average award last year was
nineteen thousand dollars. That would make Lewis and Clark cheaper for international students than the
University of Oregon.
But, of course, prices alone do not say anything about the quality of a school or the value of an education.
And that's the VOA Special English EDUCATION REPORT, written by Nancy Steinbach. Our Foreign
Student Series is online at voaspecialenglish.com. If you have a general question about American colleges and
universities, we might answer your question in our series. Tell us your name and where you are. Use the Contact
Us link at voaspecialenglish.com or write to special@voanews.com.
Colleges and Degrees

We answer questions from two students this week in part five of our Foreign Student Series on American higher
education.
Sylla Hamed in Ghana wants to know the difference between a university and a community college. And
Marcelo Porto Nicola in Brazil asks about the difference between an undergraduate degree and a graduate
degree.
Undergraduates are students in the first four years of higher education, or what Americans call college. In the
United States, that means the four years after twelfth grade.
But the work does not all have to be done at the same college.
For example, a student may first attend a two-year school, also called a community college or junior college.
Students who complete a two-year course of study earn an associate degree.
Starting at a community college can save a lot of money if students want to go on to a four-year college or a big
university. Many four-year schools will accept this work as the first two years toward a bachelor's degree.
To earn a bachelor's degree, students usually take general subjects during their first two years. After that they
take classes in their major area of study.
Students who major in a scientific area receive a bachelor of science degree, known as a B.S. Students in the
arts and humanities get a B.A. -- a bachelor of arts. Schools may also offer specialized degrees, like a bachelor
of music.
After students have a bachelor's degree, they may go on to earn a graduate degree -- either a master's degree or a
doctorate.
A master's degree generally takes two to three years of full-time study. A master of business administration, for
example, takes about two years to complete. A doctorate can take much longer. It is the highest degree offered
in graduate school. Some programs require six years of study or even longer after college.
A student may earn a doctor of philosophy degree, known as a PhD, or a professional degree in an area like
medicine, law or education.
We will talk more about graduate programs later in our series.
Student Series can be found online at voaspecialenglish.com. If you have a general question, write to
special@voanews.com or use the Contact Us link at voaspecialenglish.com. Please tell us your name and where
you are. We might answer your question in our reports. I'm Steve Ember.
Accreditation Explained
Now, we continue our Foreign Student Series for those of you considering an American college or university.
One of the things you should make sure of is that the work you do will be recognized in your own country.
Employers and schools are more likely to accept your American education if it came from an accredited
program.
Accreditation is a process used for quality control. Across the United States, there are eighty accrediting
agencies for higher education. These are private, nonprofit organizations. They develop educational goals, then
examine schools to make sure the goals are met.
The first step is for a college or university to ask for accreditation. The school then measures its performance
against the requirements.
After that, the accrediting agency sends a team of specialists to decide whether or not the school meets the
standards. Accredited schools are observed every few years to see how they are doing.
Accrediting organizations must be recognized by either the federal government or the Council for Higher
Education Accreditation. Almost half of all the agencies are recognized by both CHEA and the United States
Department of Education.
Higher education groups created CHEA in nineteen ninety-six. But students who want to receive federal student
aid must attend a school accredited by a government-recognized agency.
Foreign students might wonder why they should care much about all this. After all, foreign students in most
cases do not receive aid from the United States government.
But accreditation is also meant to tell employers that your studies met a set of quality standards. And
accreditation can make it easier to move credits from one school to another.
Seven thousand institutions and more than nineteen thousand programs were accredited by American
organizations last year. Among them were almost five hundred foreign colleges, as well as foreign campuses of
American universities.
All accredited schools and programs can be found on the CHEA Web site, chea.org. It also has advice about
how to avoid worthless educational programs and accrediting agencies. We will talk more about that subject
next week.
Student Series is online at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.
Diploma Mills
This week, in part seven of our Foreign Student Series, we talk more about accreditation of American colleges
and universities.
To become accredited, programs have to meet quality standards that are set by an accrediting agency. In the
United States, private organizations around the country handle this process.
Schools must be reaccredited every ten years, or sooner. They can lose their accreditation if they have problems
that are not corrected within a given period of time.
For example, the George Washington University Medical School announced last week that it was correcting
problems found by its accrediting agency. The medical school in Washington, D.C., has been given two years to
meet the standards. School officials said the changes include writing more detailed course objectives and
providing more study areas for students.
The process of accreditation is designed in part to protect against "diploma mills." These operations call
themselves colleges or universities but provide no real education.
In August, a husband and wife were sentenced to three years in federal prison in a case in the northwestern state
of Washington. They operated Saint Regis University and more than one hundred other diploma mills. These
businesses supplied worthless degrees to more than nine thousand people in the United States and around the
world. The couple got seven million dollars.
George Gollin, a physics professor at the University of Illinois, is an expert on accreditation who helped
investigate the case. He advises students to get the exact name of a school they are interested in, then look for it
on the Web site of a group known as CHEA. CHEA is the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. The
address is chea.org.
Make sure a school or program is accredited by a legally recognized accrediting agency before paying any
money. Only legitimate schools and programs are listed on the site. It also lists the only legally recognized
agencies.
Experts advise students to be suspicious of offers from schools that do not require much work or interaction
with teachers. One warning sign is any offer of college credit for "life experience."
And that's the VOA Special English EDUCATION REPORT, written by Nancy Steinbach. A link to the
CHEA Web site can be found, along with our continuing Foreign Student Series, at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm
Steve Ember.
Getting a US Education From Home

This week in our Foreign Student Series, we talk about getting an American education online. A student named
Hendra has written to us from Indonesia asking about a good online university.
Finding the right online program requires research, just like a traditional education. Talking to advisers and
recruiters can help. Keep in mind, though, that they might have a financial interest to direct you to certain
programs.
Avoid a diploma mill. We talked about this last week. Diploma mills, also known as degree mills, are nothing
more than businesses. The education is poor quality, if they even require any class work to get a degree.
The Council on Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) recognizes a group in Washington, D.C., to accredit
schools that offer distance learning. One hundred ten programs in the United States and six other countries are
accredited by the Distance Education and Training Council.
We asked the executive director, Michael Lambert, for advice on choosing a distance learning program. He says
the first thing is to go on the CHEA Web site to find if a school is accredited. The address is c-h-e-a dot o-r-g.
Next, make sure the school offers what you need. Do you need a degree, or will a certificate or license be
enough?
Another consideration is cost. Often the published price does not include all the costs -- like books. Technology
requirements can also add to the costs. Will you need to get new software or a high-speed Internet connection or
even a new computer to take the classes you want?
Also, consider the level of interaction that an online program offers. You might never meet the teacher or other
students in person. You need to be able to work without the supervision that you might find in a traditional
class.
Finally, and this is our own advice, find out what others say. You might search on the Internet for comments or
ratings or news stories about schools that interest you. Just remember that what people say is not always fair or
true.
So now we have talked about getting an American education online. Next week, we begin explaining the steps
to getting an American education in the United States.
Student Series is online at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Bob Doughty.
Getting a US Visa
This week, in part nine of our Foreign Student Series, we talk about getting a student visa to come to the United
States.
Just getting accepted to an American college or university does not guarantee that you will get a visa. And
getting a visa just lets you arrive in the United States. It does not guarantee that an immigration officer will
permit you to enter the country.
Travel documents come from the Department of State. But immigration is the responsibility of the Department
of Homeland Security.
The State Department has a Web site with all the rules for getting a visa. The address is unitedstatesvisas.gov.
Unitedstatesvisas is all one word.
If you are requesting a visa for the first time, you will probably have to go to an American embassy or
consulate. You will need to bring a government form sent to you by your American school that shows you have
been accepted.
You will also need banking and tax records that show you have enough money to pay for your education. And
be prepared to provide evidence that you will return to your home country after your studies end.
All of this is important in satisfying the requirements to get a visa. A consular official will also take your picture
and your fingerprints.
Foreign students must contact their local embassy or consulate to request an interview and to get other
information. This includes directions about how and where to pay the visa application charge. The cost is two
hundred dollars.
You should apply for the visa as soon as you have been accepted to a school in the United States. The
government needs time to perform a background investigation.
You cannot receive a visa more than one hundred twenty days before the start of your program. And if you are
coming as a student for the first time, you cannot enter the country more than thirty days before classes begin.
Once you come to the United States, you can stay for the length of your period of study. Your school is required
to provide the Department of Homeland Security with reports on your status as a student. We will talk more
about what that means next week.
Student Series is online with transcripts, MP3s and helpful links at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.
What SEVIS Means to You

We are now ten weeks into our Foreign Student Series on higher education in the United States. So far we have
talked about planning for school and about subjects like online education and diploma mills.
Last week the subject was getting a travel visa. Today we discuss something else that every foreign student
needs to know about: SEVIS. SEVIS is the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System.
More than nine thousand American colleges, universities and exchange visitor programs are required to use this
electronic system. It links them with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, in the Department of
Homeland Security.
The terrorist attacks in two thousand one led to the creation of the department. But SEVIS was being developed
even before the attacks as a way to improve record keeping on foreign students in the United States. Some of
the September eleventh hijackers entered the country on student visas.
With SEVIS, a school enters information about a student. The system lets the school know when the student has
arrived. The school must then provide reports on whether or not the student is attending classes. Students who
violate the terms of their visa can be expelled from the country and may be denied future entry.
Two examples of violations are failing to begin classes by the required date and working at a job without
permission. Other violations are not attending classes full time and not leaving the country after completion of
studies.
SEVIS currently lists more than one million active, nonimmigrant students and exchange visitors and their
dependents.
Students and exchange visitors are charged fees to help pay for the system. The fee for students increased to two
hundred dollars in September. This is the visa application charge we talked about last week.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement says the fee must be paid before going to an embassy or consulate for
the visa interview.
All the information you need to know about SEVIS can be found on the Internet at ice.gov. That's i-c-e dot g-ov.
And that's the VOA Special English EDUCATION REPORT, written by Nancy Steinbach. Next week: how to
begin applying for admission to an American college or university. All of our reports are online at
voaspecialenglish.com. Click on the Foreign Student Series link at the bottom of the page. I'm Steve Ember.
The Application Process

This week in our Foreign Student Series, we talk about applying to an American college or university.
International admissions officers advise students to apply to at least three schools. You may be able to apply
online and pay the application charge with a credit card, or by mail.
You should study the Web sites of schools that interest you. You can find information about how and when to
apply, how much it will cost and whether any financial aid is available. And you can probably e-mail the
admissions office with any questions.
At Whitman College, the admissions Web site has an area where people can send questions to current
international students. Whitman is a small private college in Walla Walla, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest.
It has about one thousand five hundred students. Fifty-two of them this year are international students from
more than thirty countries.
By comparison, almost four thousand international students from more than one hundred countries are at Ohio
State University. Ohio State is in the Midwest, in the city of Columbus, Ohio, and is one of the largest
universities in the United States. It has more than fifty-two thousand students.
Wherever you apply, you should start the application process at least two years before you want to begin your
studies. Completing the applications and any required admissions tests will take time. Non-native English
speakers will most likely have to take the TOEFL, the Test of English as a Foreign Language. We will be
discussing the TOEFL and other tests in the coming weeks.
So far in our series, we talked about choosing schools. We suggested getting help at the nearest Educational
Advising Center. The State Department has advising centers around the world.
We also talked about online education programs and subjects like accreditation and diploma mills. And we
talked about student visas and the job of SEVIS. SEVIS is the Student and Exchange Visitor Information
System operated by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
Next week will be part twelve of our Foreign Student Series. If you missed any, our series is online with
transcripts, MP3s and helpful links at voaspecialenglish.com. You can also send us e-mail through the site. Or
write to special@voanews.com, and be sure to include your name and tell us where you are.
Thanksgiving in the US
This Thursday is Thanksgiving Day in the United States. Americans traditionally gather for a large holiday meal
with family and friends. Most schools are also closed Friday for Thanksgiving break. Some students get all
week off.
So where does this leave international students? We asked a few colleges and universities around the country for
this week's report in our Foreign Student Series.
In the Northeast, Green Mountain College in Poultney, Vermont, has twenty-nine international students this year
out of a student population of about eight hundred. Dick Weis is the director of international programs. He says
teachers and coaches invite international students to their homes for Thanksgiving. Professor Weis is having six
or seven at his house for the holiday.
In the Southeast, Lelia Crawford is director of international student programs at Emory University in Atlanta,
Georgia. She says school groups organize meals for the more than one thousand five hundred international
students at Emory.
Local organizations also get involved, like a group called the Atlanta Ministry with International Students. It
arranges for students in the Atlanta area to celebrate Thanksgiving with American families.
The group also has a program called Christmas International House. International students can spend the long
winter holiday with families in other parts of the United States.
In the Midwest, Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa, has more than one thousand students. Fourteen of
them this year are from other countries. International student adviser Nadia Sifri says they are connected with
local host families when they first arrive. The families provide a home away from home, she says, and they
generally invite the students to spend Thanksgiving with them.
And in the West, Bob Ericksen heads the Dashew Center for International Students and Scholars at the
University of California, Los Angeles. UCLA has more than five thousand international students, and he says
they can enjoy not just one but three meals for Thanksgiving.
His office and the Study Abroad Office have a dinner before the holiday. Then, on Thanksgiving Day, local
families bring food to a park to share with international students. And that evening, the students can go to
another Thanksgiving meal held by a service fraternity.
Students Series can be found on the Web at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.
Admissions Tests
Many American colleges and universities require applications for the fall term to be completed by January first.
But some have deadlines of December first. So this was a fitting week for a research group in California to
release its latest "national report card on higher education." The National Center for Public Policy and Higher
Education calls it "Measuring Up."
The report says the price of college has increased more than four hundred percent since nineteen eighty-two.
Costs have climbed much faster than other prices -- as well as the wages of average families.
The group warns that a continuation of these trends would put higher education beyond the reach of most
Americans. And it would mean greater debt for those who do go to college.
The report also expresses concern that the United States is losing its leadership in sending young people to
college. Earlier progress can be seen in the percentage of Americans age thirty-five and older who have a
college degree. In a comparison of twenty-nine countries, the United States is second, after Canada.
But today other countries are making progress more quickly. The United States is tenth in the percentage of
college-educated adults age twenty-five to thirty-four. And it is seventh in the percentage of eighteen to twentyfour year olds in college.
Also, a lot of students drop out. The report says college completion "has never been a strength" of American
higher education. Among the twenty-nine countries, the United States is fifteenth in college completion rates.
Completing college first requires getting admitted. This week in our Foreign Student Series, we begin a
discussion of entrance tests.
Advisers say a student's high school record is the most important consideration. But most American schools
require one of the two major college-entrance tests.
The SAT measures reasoning skills in math and language and includes an essay question.
The four-hour test costs forty-five dollars. The international processing charge is twenty-six -- plus an extra
twenty-three dollars in India and Pakistan.
Students may also need to take subject tests. Information about the SAT can be found online at
collegeboard.com.
Next time, we will talk about the other major test, the ACT-- and about schools that do not require either. And
we will discuss the TOEFL, the Test of English as a Foreign Language.
The SAT and the ACT

This week in our Foreign Student Series, we continue our discussion of college entrance tests in the United
States. There are two competing admissions tests at the undergraduate level: the SAT and the ACT.
We talked last week about the SAT. The reasoning test involves mathematics and language and includes writing
an essay. You can also take SAT subject tests.
The ACT is designed to measure what a student learned in high school. There are questions in four skill areas:
math, English, reading and science. The ACT takes just over four hours. It costs fifty-six dollars to take outside
the United States. A writing test -- which is not required -- adds thirty minutes and fifteen dollars. Details about
the ACT can be found at act.org.
ACT used to be short for American College Testing; SAT once meant Scholastic Aptitude Test. But today the
letters no longer stand for anything.
Most American colleges and universities require applicants for a bachelor's degree to take one of the tests. Some
students take both.
The ACT is advertised as "America's most widely accepted college entrance exam." The SAT is advertised as
the one "most widely taken" and, combined with high school grades, "the best predictor of college success."
Yet activists have long debated the fairness of these tests and what they really show. The issue has intensified as
the test preparation industry has grown.
Now, some colleges and universities have stopped requiring the tests. A group called FairTest has found almost
eight hundred schools where students may be able to gain admission without the SAT or ACT. The list is at
fairtest.org.
For graduate-level programs, applicants often have to take the Graduate Record Examinations, or GRE. The
general test measures reasoning, thinking and writing skills.
The cost outside the United States is one hundred seventy dollars -- except in China, Taiwan and South Korea.
The cost there is one hundred ninety-five dollars.
Students can also take GRE subject tests. Information about the GRE can be found on the Educational Testing
Service Web site, ets.org.
The two major language tests for non-native English speakers are the TOEFL and the IELTS. These will be our
subject next week.
Students Series is online at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.
TOEFL or IELTS?
For the past two weeks, we have talked about the SAT and ACT college admissions tests and the GRE for
graduate school. This week in our Foreign Students Series, we move on to English language tests.
Most American colleges and universities accept one or both of the two major tests. One is the Test of English as
a Foreign Language, known as the TOEFL. The other is the International English Language Testing System, or
IELTS.
The TOEFL is given in one hundred eighty countries. The competing IELTS is given in one hundred twenty-one
countries.
One million people each year take the TOEFL, says Tom Ewing, a spokesman for the Educational Testing
Service. Same with the IELTS, says Beryl Meiron, the executive director of IELTS International.
She says two thousand colleges and universities in the United States now recognize the IELTS. Schools might
accept it only for undergraduate or graduate admission or both.
The IELTS is a paper test, while the TOEFL is given on paper only in places where a computer test is
unavailable.
The TOEFL paper test costs one hundred fifty dollars. It tests reading, listening and writing. A separate Test of
Spoken English costs one hundred twenty-five dollars.
The computer version is called the TOEFL iBT, or Internet-based test. The price is different in each country, but
generally falls between one hundred fifty and two hundred dollars.
The TOEFL iBT and the IELTS both measure all four language skills -- listening, reading, writing and speaking.
But with the IELTS, the speaking test is done separately as a live interview. You speak with an examiner who is
certified in ESOL -- English for speakers of other languages.
Everyone takes the same speaking and listening tests. But there is a choice of two kinds of reading and writing
tests -- either academic or general training.
IELTS International says the test measures true-to-life ability to communicate in English for education,
immigration and employment. Institutions in Britain and Australia jointly developed it.
The cost is different in each country. But Beryl Meiron says the price in local currency is generally comparable
to about one hundred sixty dollars. The IELTS Web site is ielts.org. The TOEFL Web site is toefl.org.
The Business of the GMAT

What do you think is the most popular subject of study for international students at colleges and universities in
the United States?
How many of you thought of engineering? Seventeen percent of foreign students, or one out of six, studied
engineering during the last academic year.
But the Institute of International Education says twenty percent, or one in five, studied business and
management.
Which brings us to the subject this week in our Foreign Student Series -- the Graduate Management Admission
Test. The GMAT is commonly required for students who want to earn a master of business administration.
The GMAT is a computer test that measures reading, mathematics and writing skills. You have to write two
essays in sixty minutes.
An organization of business schools, the Graduate Management Admission Council, is responsible for the
GMAT. Four thousand programs around the world, it says, use the GMAT as an important part of their
admissions process.
But just as students compete on tests, tests also compete. In fact, the GMAT could offer a good case study for a
business class. The council's Web site points out that the Educational Testing Service has recently been
marketing its GRE test to graduate schools of business.
The council presents reasons why business schools should use the GMAT instead of the Graduate Record
Examinations, or GRE. Most importantly, it says the GMAT was designed by business schools for business
schools.
The GMAT costs two hundred fifty dollars, which is a lot. But the council says that is because the test can be
taken almost every day of the year at more than four hundred centers around the world. Almost two hundred of
these are outside the United States.
Students can learn more about the GMAT at mba.com.
Now, another question: Which countries do you think send the most students to the United States for higher
education? The Institute of International Education in New York says last year's top five were India, China,
South Korea, Japan and Canada. The United States, it says, received a record six hundred twenty-four thousand
international students. The number was seven percent higher than the year before.
Answering Your Questions

We answer some questions this week in our series on getting into an American college or university.
The first question has to do with our recent discussion of English language tests. Vo Ngoc Toan from Vietnam
would like to know about the TOEIC-- the Test of English for International Communication.
This test is designed to measure skills in English as spoken in the workplace. People may be required to take it
if they apply for jobs with companies or other employers. But TOEIC scores are not used for college admission
in the United States.
The Educational Testing Service administers the TOEIC. It says the test measures the language skills of people
working in an international environment.
American colleges and universities accept scores from the TOEFL and often the IELTS. If you missed our
report on these tests, you can find it at our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Click on Foreign Student Series.
Tahir Mahmood from Pakistan asks how to improve his English before taking these kinds of tests. Well, you can
start by looking for ways to use English as much as you can. Watch American movies and TV shows and read
books in English. Look for English speakers to talk to.
The Internet has a lot of free resources for English learners. Visitors to voaspecialenglish.com, for example, can
read, listen and watch programs on many different subjects.
The United States Department of Education recently launched a free Web site designed to help immigrants learn
English. The site is called USA Learns. The address is u-s-a-l-e-a-r-n-s dot o-r-g.
Next, a question from Turkey: Hasan Eker asks about getting a postdoctoral position in the United States. This
is work generally done by a person who recently earned a PhD, or doctor of philosophy degree. The National
Postdoctoral Association in Washington, D.C., has information about international postdocs on its Web site.
That address is nationalpostdoc -- all one word -- dot org.
And, finally, we have questions from Iran, Afghanistan and Indonesia about how to pay for an education
through loans or jobs. There are rules that restrict the kinds of jobs that foreign students can have while studying
in the United States. But stay tuned. In the next few weeks, we will discuss financial aid as we talk about the
costs of an American education.
Paying for School in the US

Governments are not the only ones having to re-examine their budgets. The financial crisis has many families
concerned about how they will pay for college. This week in our Foreign Student Series, we discuss costs for
higher education for international students in the United States.
Prices differ from school to school, but public colleges and universities usually cost less than private ones.
A big state university in the western United States will serve as our example. The University of Colorado at
Boulder has one thousand two hundred international students from more than eighty countries.
Tina Tan is the director of international student and scholar services. She says international students are paying
a total of forty thousand two hundred dollars for this academic year. The university estimates that the cost for
next year will increase by four hundred dollars.
The university does not offer financial aid to international students. This is generally true of American schools,
especially at the undergraduate level. Federal and state financial aid can only go to American citizens.
The University of Colorado does, however, offer some help for international students. For example, it
guarantees them the same tuition rate for all four years of undergraduate study. And it offers four scholarships
for international students with special skills or talents.
Tina Tan says the federal government requires international students to show on their applications how they will
pay for their first year of school. This evidence is a signed statement from whoever is paying for it, and
confirmation from a bank or lawyer.
Some colleges might require international students to show that they can pay for all four years. But the
University of Colorado requires only evidence of financial support for the first year.
Educational advisers say foreign students should keep enough money in a local bank to pay for at least two
months of spending. Students have to consider not just tuition but also housing, meals, books and other costs
including social activities.
Immigration rules restrict employment for international students in the United States. So what kinds of jobs are
they permitted to have? That will be our subject next week.
And that's the VOA Special English EDUCATION REPORT, written by Nancy Steinbach. Transcripts and
MP3s of the earlier reports in our Foreign Students Series are at voaspecialenglish.com.
Working While Studying in the US

This week in our Foreign Student Series, we discuss rules about getting a job while studying in the United
States.
International students are permitted to work for the college or university they attend or for a business at the
school. But the business must directly provide a service to students. You could work at the bookstore, for
example, but not for a construction company that is building something on campus. Also, a foreign student
cannot displace an American citizen in a job.
International students can work twenty hours a week while attending classes; more during school breaks. You
can work until you complete your studies.
Foreign students normally cannot take a job that has no connection to their school. But the government may
give permission if students are suddenly faced with a situation that is out of their control. Examples include
large medical bills, the loss of financial aid or an unexpected change in the financial condition of their source of
support.
Students must also meet other conditions. They must have attended their American school for at least one year.
Government approval is given on a case-by-case basis. Students must re-apply after a year if they want to
continue an off-campus job.
Foreign students who will be attending graduate school can apply for some jobs before they come to the United
States. A good example is a university job like a teaching or research assistantship.
Some schools pay their assistants. Others provide free education in return. Many do both.
Graduate assistants might teach, give tests, grade work, assist professors with research and hold office hours.
Many universities now provide language training to foreign teaching assistants to help them improve their
English. Some schools require foreign students to pass an English speaking test before they are permitted to
teach.
International student offices at schools have to provide information on students each term to the Department of
Homeland Security. Students who violate the terms of their visa -- for example, by working off-campus without
permission -- could be sent home.
Student Series continues next week. The earlier reports are at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Jim Tedder in
Washington.
Financial Aid
We talked last week about employment rules for international students in the United States. Now we move to
financial aid, which is often limited for international students.
American schools provided aid to almost half of foreign graduate students during the last academic year, but
only ten percent of undergraduates.
In all, more than sixty percent of international students paid for their education mainly with personal or family
money. Twenty-six percent were supported by their American college or university.
Foreign students represent a valuable resource, especially when public colleges and universities face budget
cuts by states. Foreign students pay the higher prices charged for students from out of state. Not only that, they
can help schools increase their ethnic diversity.
Some students are supported by their home university or government. A small number receive support from the
United States government. Employers, private sponsors and international organizations also help some
students pay for school.
A list of American colleges and universities that offer financial aid to foreign students can be found at
edupass.org -- e-d-u-p-a-s-s dot o-r-g. The Web site also provides information and advice on scholarship
programs. Never trust a program that charges for application forms.
Another helpful site about American higher education and financial aid is educationusa.state.gov.
About half of international students are in graduate school. The Institute of International Education in New York
says thirty-one percent during the last academic year were undergraduates. The others were studying English or
in training program.
In all, the United States has around eighteen million students in higher education. Last year, more than six
hundred twenty thousand, or three and a half percent, were international students.
The United States, though, has the largest "market share," about twenty percent of all the international students
in the world. But even as more and more students come to the United States, more and more are also going to
other countries. So experts say the American share is likely to go down in the future.
The nearest competitor is Britain, with thirteen percent at last report. Other top countries for international
students include France, Germany, Australia, China, Canada and Japan.
Student Series is online at voaspecialengli
Becoming a Fulbrighter
This week in our Foreign Student Series, we talk about the Fulbright Program. It sends Americans to study,
teach or do research in other countries. And it brings people from other countries to do the same in the United
States.
Fulbright grants are awarded each year to more than seven thousand people. These are graduate students,
scholars, teachers and people in other professions. The United States government pays most of the costs.
Foreign governments and schools help share the costs and provide other support.
Legislation introduced by Senator William Fulbright established the program after World War Two. Today it
operates in more than one hundred fifty countries. Close to three hundred thousand people have taken part since
nineteen forty-six. More than half of all Fulbrighters have been foreign students.
The Fulbright Program is really a collection of programs. It represents a partnership of government agencies,
private organizations and other groups around the world.
The Language Teaching Program, for example, brings teachers of English as a foreign language to work at
American colleges and universities.
Another program gives forty International Science and Technology Awards each year to foreign doctoral
students studying science or engineering.
The Fulbright Foreign Student Program helps graduate students and young professionals do research and study
in the United States for a year or longer. Each year more than three thousand of these awards go to foreign
graduate students.
The Fulbright Teacher and Administrator Exchange Program offers a true exchange -- meaning two people trade
jobs for a time.
The countries with the most Fulbrighters in the United States this year are Germany, Pakistan, Chile, Indonesia
and Turkey.
State Department official Marianne Craven says Fulbrighters not only want to learn, but also to help improve
international understanding.
You can learn more about the different Fulbright programs by going online to fulbright.state.gov. Or check with
a United States embassy or the Fulbright Commission in your country.
And that's the VOA Special English EDUCATION REPORT, written by Nancy Steinbach. This was program
number twenty-one in our Foreign Student Series on higher education in the United States. The series can be
found at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.
Four Kinds of Financial Aid

This week in our Foreign Student Series, we look at financial aid that comes in ships. Scholarships, fellowships
and assistantships.
But first we talk about financial aid of another kind: grants. A grant, unlike a loan, does not have to be repaid.
One of our examples this week is the University of Missouri-Columbia, known as Mizzou (pronounced mahZOO). Mizzou is a public university with more than one thousand five hundred international students this
school year. The total student population is more than thirty thousand.
Mizzou has a grant program for international students. The Curator's Grant-in-Aid program is for those who get
good grades and take part in university activities. Graduate students who receive a grant get nine free credits to
take courses. Undergraduates receive between one thousand and five thousand dollars in support.
Students must have attended Mizzou for a year before they can receive a grant. And they must reapply for the
awards each semester.
Some grants are called scholarships or fellowships. Scholarships are for undergraduates; fellowships are for
graduate students. Awards may be based on financial need or on grades, talents or other requirements. The
Global Heritage Scholarship at Mizzou, for example, is only for international undergraduates whose mother or
father graduated from there.
The scholarship pays seven thousand five hundred dollars a year for tuition. Full tuition is currently almost
nineteen thousand dollars.
Tuition is about the same at another public university, the University of Arizona in Tucson. It offers an
undergraduate scholarship for international students who earned high marks in high school. The program is
open to all foreign students who have been admitted to the university. Winners receive between two thousand
and ten thousand dollars a year to help pay tuition.
Seventy international students are currently receiving the scholarship. The University of Arizona has more than
two thousand international students this academic year. The school had close to forty thousand students during
the fall term.
Assistantships are jobs paid with money or free classes. Graduate assistants help professors for about twenty
hours a week. They may teach undergraduates, grade papers and tests, and assist with research.
And that's the VOA Special English EDUCATION REPORT, written by Nancy Steinbach. The earlier reports
in our Foreign Student Series are at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.
Web Redefines the College Visit

This week, we visit four Web sites where students can learn about higher education in the United States.
Cappex.com -- c-a-p-p-e-x -- matches students with colleges and universities. Students create a profile about
themselves and their interests. The site then suggests ten to twenty schools.
But Cappex President Chris Long says that there are no guarantees of admission. The site is free to students.
Cappex sells advertising on the site to schools and companies.
CollegeClickTV.com has thirty thousand videos of students answering questions about their schools.
GIRL: "I would recommend honestly taking Statistics 263 with Professor Alexander. He's absolutely wonderful,
the class is a great class to take and I really enjoy it."
SECOND GIRL: "I chose this school because it's in the city and it's really great and the communication school
is actually, I think, ranked in the top five?"
BOY: "Yeah."
SECOND GIRL: "It varies every year but it's ranked really high. And all the colleges. And you get like a really
great, well-rounded education. And the kids are really cool. You meet really fun people."
BOY: "I came here because I didn't get into NYU."
Schools pay CollegeClickTV to come on campus. But founder and president Glenn Pere says schools do not
approve or reject any comments. That does not mean the site will use whatever students say; Glenn Pere says
they must give reasons for their opinions.
Zinch.com has video profiles produced by students themselves. Co-founder Sid Kromenhoek says it is a place
where students can show their abilities and talents. The company says more than six hundred colleges pay to use
the site to search for students. More than five hundred thousand high school students have profiles on the site.
Finally, we come to Unigo.com. Unigo offers college reviews, videos and other content created by students.
Features include "unofficial campus tours" and advice for dealing with the recession -- oh, and of course, dating
on campus.
The free site, supported by ads, has a team of full-time editors. The site was launched to the public last
September by a start-up company led by its twenty-six year old founder. Jordan Goldman says the site is
starting with two hundred fifty of America's top colleges and will add more.
Unigo, Zinch, CollegeClickTV and Cappex are just some of the sites for college searches on the Web. Others
include MyCollegeOptions, CheckMyCampus and PrincetonReview.
Student Series continues next week. The series is online at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.
Grading Grades
This week in our Foreign Student Series the subject is grades.
Most American colleges and universities use the grading system of A, B, C, D and F. An A is worth four points,
a B three points, a C two points and a D one point. Getting a grade like a B-plus or a C-minus adds or subtracts
a few tenths of a point. An F is a failing grade worth zero toward a student's grade point average.
A small number of colleges -- perhaps about twenty nationally -- reject the traditional grading system. The
Evergreen State College, for example, was established in nineteen sixty-seven and has never used letter or
number grades. Evergreen State is a public four-year college in the northwestern city of Olympia, Washington.
It has more than four thousand students, including twenty-six international students currently.
Evergreen State is organized into programs taught by teams of professors. Each program brings together
different subjects and extends in length over two or three quarters. Students are required to do a major research
project at the end of each program.
The professors write detailed evaluations of the students. These are combined with evaluations written by the
students themselves. Students also meet with their professors to discuss their work.
The director of admissions, Doug Scrima, says employers and graduate schools like these evaluations, called
narratives. He says they show more about the quality of students' work than traditional grades do.
Most teachers would probably agree that traditional grades are sometimes unfair. But professors at big schools
say there is not enough time to write evaluations for each student in large classes. Some classes have hundreds
of students.
Alverno College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is a small women's school that does not use grades. Kathleen
O'Brien is the chief academic officer. She says letter grades do not effectively document learning or provide
good direction to students. She says even at big schools there are classes small enough to give evaluations. But
she says the American university system is not organized to accept this kind of change.
We will talk more about grades next week. But first, let us know how you feel about grades. You can submit
comments on this story and find earlier reports in our Foreign Student Series at voaspecialenglish.com.
High Marks Just for Trying?

This week in our Foreign Student Series, we continue our discussion about grades.
Would you want a doctor who got high marks in medical school just for trying really, really hard? Apparently
many college students would have no problem with that. They believe students are owed a good grade simply
because they put a lot of effort into a class. Or at least that is what they told researchers last year at the
University of California, Irvine.
The researchers asked more than eight hundred undergraduates if they agreed or disagreed with some
statements. For example: "If I have completed most of the reading for a class, I deserve a B in that course."
And: "A professor should not be annoyed with me if I receive an important call during class."
Just sixteen percent thought it was OK to take that phone call. But sixty-six percent agreed that a professor
should consider effort and not just the quality of a student's work when deciding grades. And forty percent
thought they should get a B, the second highest mark, just because they did most of the reading for class.
The findings appeared in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence. The students were ages eighteen to twenty-five.
Some experts are not surprised that students often see no difference between effort and results. Social critics
like to say that in children's activities these days, everyone gets an award just for trying, so no one will feel
rejected. Or so it may seem.
Yet competition to get into the best colleges is fiercer than ever. Students may worry that low grades will keep
them out of graduate school or a good job.
And there may be another explanation: pressure from parents to get a good return on the family's investment.
These days, college can cost more than a house.
A former teaching assistant recently wrote to the New York Times about his experience with grade expectations.
He would try to explain it this way when students asked for a top grade just for studying hard in chemistry
class:
What if a baseball player came to spring training and worked harder than all the others, but still could not play
well. Would the team accept him anyway, just because he tried so hard?
The students would say no. But most of them would still ask for an A.
And that's the VOA Special English EDUCATION REPORT, written by Nancy Steinbach. Tell us what you
think about grades, and read what others have to say, at voaspecialenglish.com. Click on Foreign Student Series.
I'm Steve Ember.
Helping Foreign Students Feel at Home

Being a new student in school can be a little scary. Being a new student in a new country can be even scarier.
A college or university's international student office is a good place to start getting to know the school and the
country. This week in our Foreign Student Series, we talk about support services for international students in the
United States.
Our example is the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. U.S.C. has had the most international
students of any American college or university for the past seven years. So says the Institution of International
Education in New York.
U.S.C.'s Office of International Services says the number of students this year is about seven thousand five
hundred. The University of Southern California has more than thirty-five thousand students total.
The Office of International Services helps explain student life at the university. It also organizes programs to
help foreign students feel more at ease in their new surroundings. For example, there are trips to explore the Los
Angeles area.
Most American colleges and universities have a similar office that helps international students. These offices
look for ways to get students involved in school life and make American friends. Their job is not always easy.
International students often want to spend their free time with friends from their own country or group.
India, China, South Korea, Japan and Canada sent the most students to the United States during the last school
year. Next came Taiwan, Mexico, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Thailand.
The office at U.S.C. also assists family members who come to the United States with international students. The
family members can take English classes and go on trips to places like museums.
The Office of International Services also organizes other activities. For example, a State of the World Seminar
takes place each semester. A group of international students and a professor discuss current social and political
issues and take questions from the audience. The most recent seminar, held earlier this month, dealt with the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
And that's the VOA Special English EDUCATION REPORT, written by Nancy Steinbach. Our series on
studying in the United States will continue next week. Earlier reports are at voaspecialenglish.com. Click on
Foreign Student Series. You can write comments and read what other people are saying. I'm Steve Ember.
Where To Live?
March Madness is the name for the busy championship season in American college basketball. But March also
means another kind of madness -- the nervous wait for admissions letters from colleges and universities.
This week in our Foreign Student Series, we jump ahead to the subject of where to live. Housing policies differ
from school to school. Some schools have limited housing or none at all.
Dormitory buildings might house a small number of students or many hundreds. Some dorms have suites. A
suite has several bedrooms, a common area and a bathroom. Other dorms have rooms along a common hallway.
Two, three or four students might share a room.
Males and females often live on different floors of the same building. Or they might live on the same floor, or in
some cases even share a suite if permitted. But single-sex housing is usually also available.
Different groups and organizations such as fraternities and sororities might have their own houses where their
members live. And there is often housing for married students.
Some dorms are nice, others are not so nice. But many students say they like the chance to make friends and be
near their classes.
Cost is another consideration. Dorms can cost less than off-campus housing. But school-owned housing can also
cost more, though the price may include meals.
Here are some questions to ask before making a decision: How much privacy can a student expect? Will the
school provide a single room if a student requests one? Will the school provide a special diet if a student needs
one? And are any dorms open all year so international students can have a place to stay during long vacations?
Kirsten Kennedy, housing director at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, says all first-year
undergraduates there have to live in a dorm. After that, they are free to seek other housing.
Students can apply to become resident assistants after living in the dorms for a year. International students can
also apply to become resident assistants after a year in the dorms.
Working as a resident assistant in student housing is one way to help finance an education. At many schools,
RAs earn money as well as get their room and meals for free or at a reduced price.
Alcohol on Campus
Most American colleges and universities take a spring break. Students might go home to their families -- or
spend a week partying on a warm beach with no parents around. That is the popular image, at least.
In the United States, the legal age to drink alcohol is twenty-one -- one of the highest in the world. Americans
debate whether it should be lowered, or whether young drinkers would only drink more. In parts of Europe, the
legal drinking age for beer, and sometimes hard liquor, is sixteen. Yet France may raise the age limit for beer
and wine sales to eighteen, the same as for hard liquor there.
Rules on alcohol differ from college to college in the United States. Many schools require all first-year students
to take an alcohol prevention and education program, often given online. Some have a "zero tolerance" policy
where alcohol is banned from all buildings. Parents are informed of violations and students may be suspended.
At the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, permission is needed to serve alcohol at any event on campus.
But alcohol is banned in first-year dorms -- where most students are under twenty-one anyway.
Susan Davis, a university lawyer, says campus police and local police report underage drinking violations to
administrators. The university judicial committee decides punishment on a case by case basis. For example, the
committee might suspend or expel a student. It might require an alcohol education program. Or it might just
give a warning.
Jon Zug is a prosecutor in Albemarle County, where the university is located. He says international students
would face the same punishment as American citizens for underage drinking in Virginia. That includes a fine of
five hundred dollars or fifty hours of community service. But first offenders might be given a chance to
complete an alcohol education program instead.
Schools have to report legal violations by international students to the Department of Homeland Security.
International adviser Richard Tanson at the University of Virginia says even minor violations stay on a student's
permanent immigration record. He says international students should know that this can affect them in the
future if they try to re-enter the United States.
And that's the VOA Special English EDUCATION REPORT, written by Nancy Steinbach. Earlier reports in
our Foreign Student Series can be found at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.
Coming to Terms With Academic Titles

Not all college teachers are full professors. Many are assistant or adjunct professors. This week in our Foreign
Student Series, we discuss academic titles in American higher education.
Professors usually have doctorate degrees. But college students may be taught by instructors who have not
completed their doctorate degrees. After that, the instructor could become an assistant professor. Assistant
professors do not have tenure.
A professor with tenure cannot be easily dismissed. Such appointments are permanent. Those hired with the
understanding they will seek tenure are said to be "on the tenure track." Assistant professor is the first job on
this path.
Assistant professors have five to seven years to get tenure. They must teach, carry out research and publish their
findings. Other professors then study the work. If tenure is denied, the person usually has a year to find another
job. An assistant professor who receives tenure becomes an associate professor and may later be appointed a full
professor.
Professors on the tenure track teach classes, advise students and carry out research. They also serve on
committees and take part in community activities.
Other teachers are not expected to do all this. They are not on a tenure track. They are called adjuncts.
An adjunct professor is hired to teach for a limited time, usually one semester. Adjunct professors may have a
doctorate. But they receive lower pay than those on the tenure track and have no job security.
The American Association of University Professors says sixty-eight percent of all teacher appointments at
American colleges today are adjuncts. College officials say one reason is low budgets. Another is having the
freedom to change teachers as courses become more or less popular. They also say part-time adjuncts can
provide real world experience for their students.
But the AAUP and other college officials say too many adjuncts mean lower educational quality. They say
adjuncts do not have the time or support to help students outside class. And they say fewer tenure track
positions mean fewer people to work with students, create new courses and serve on committees.
And that's the VOA Special English EDUCATION REPORT, written by Nancy Steinbach. Transcripts, MP3s
and podcasts of our programs are at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Shirley Griffith.
How to Avoid Being Accused of Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the act of representing another person's words or ideas as your own. The offense may be as small
as a sentence copied from a book. Or it may be as extensive as a whole paper copied -- or bought -- from
somebody else.
Intellectual dishonesty is nothing new. The only difference now is that the Internet has made it much simpler to
steal other people's work. Yet the same technology that makes it easy to find information to copy also makes it
easier to identify plagiarism.
Teachers can use online services that compare papers to thousands of others to search for copied work. The
teacher gets a report on any passages that are similar enough to suspect plagiarism. These services are widely
used. Turnitin.com, for example, says it is used in more than one hundred countries and examines more than one
hundred thirty thousand papers a day.
Professional writers who plagiarize can be taken to civil court and ordered to pay damages. In schools, the
punishment for cheating could be a failing grade on the paper or in the course. Some schools expel plagiarists
for a term; others, for a full academic year. Some degrees have even been withdrawn after a school later found
that a student had plagiarized.
Accidental plagiarism can sometimes result from cultural differences.

At Indiana University in Bloomington, sixty percent of students who use the Office of Writing Tutorial Services
are non-native English speakers. The director, Joanne Vogt, says some have no idea that copying from published
works is considered wrong. She says students from China, for example, may think they are insulting readers if
they credit other sources. They believe that educated readers should already know where the information came
from.
The more you give credit, the less you risk accusations of plagiarism. Any sentences taken directly from a
source should appear inside quotation marks. And even if you put those sentences into your own words, you
should still give credit to where you got the information.
And that's the VOA Special English EDUCATION REPORT, written by Nancy Steinbach. More about
plagiarism next week. We will also discuss other rules for academic writing in the United States. Earlier reports
in our Foreign Student Series are at voaspecialenglish.com -- along with links to some writing resources at
American universities. I'm Steve Ember.
Beware of Essay Mills

We continue our discussion of plagiarism. Last week, we said colleges and universities in the United States
define plagiarism as representing another person's work as your own. It is considered a kind of cheating.
Professors at American colleges have tried many ways to stop student plagiarism.
Some use online detection services. They also may discuss plagiarism with their students at the start of every
term. Some require their students to turn in early versions of term papers, research papers and essays they are
writing. This makes it more difficult for students to buy papers from companies that some call "plagiarism
mills" or "essay mills."
A recent report in The Chronicle of Higher Education described such businesses. Many can be found on the
Internet. They sell newly written papers on many subjects. The cost depends on the difficulty of the subject and
how soon the paper is needed. The cost could be from twenty to forty dollars a page.
Such companies say their writers have advanced degrees, and will target the papers to any educational level.
Investigators say the writers may be working in countries like India, Nigeria or Indonesia and are poorly paid.
Most of these companies say their work should only be used as models and should not be turned in as a finished
work. But students do it anyway.
Some students claim that they order such papers as a way to organize their research. But many also say they do
not have enough time to do the work themselves and are under great pressure to do well in school.
University of Notre Dame anthropology professor Susan Blum wrote about this in a new book, "My Word!
Plagiarism and College Culture." She writes that academic cheating is a result of communication failure
between students and professors. And she says international students must be sure they know the rules of the
college they are attending.
Plagiarism may also be a problem in other countries. A recent e-mail to us from Iran described an incident in an
English class. Students were supposed to research tourist places in Iran. But one student copied information
from a book. The student changed "China" to "Iran" but forgot to change the names of the places. When the
teacher asked about his research, he said: "One of the most beautiful tourist places in Iran is Shanghai."
And that's the VOA Special English EDUCATION REPORT, written by Nancy Steinbach. I'm Barbara Klein.
Writing College Papers

Today in our Foreign Student Series we discuss writing college papers. Writing a term paper, research paper or
essay for a college class is a kind of academic writing. Academic writing among professionals is a way to
create new knowledge.
A professor assigns students to write a paper. The students examine an issue, review what is already known,
think about what they have learned and come to some conclusion.
This means that each student-writer must present information and also take a position. The student might
support an idea, question it or even disprove it. Or the writer could show how the subject may be understood
better or in a different way than it has been. And the student must support the position with evidence.
Cultural differences may interfere when international students try to write this way. Writing teachers say
students in many countries have learned to write beautiful descriptions about something without ever stating the
main idea. American college students are expected to state their main idea at the beginning of the paper.
In other cultures, paragraphs may be organized to build toward the main idea, which is revealed at the end. But
in the United States, the main idea of each paragraph should be in the first sentence. Another difference is
about writing style. Other cultures may use lots of descriptive words. But American English values short, strong
sentences.
Teachers at the writing center at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana work with students to improve
their writing. Graduate tutor Lars Soderlund says non-native English speakers generally have some trouble with
English grammar.
He says their sentences may be too long. Or they incorrectly use articles such as "a", "an" and "the." He also
says non-native speakers generally use too much emotional language and give too many details before getting to
the main idea.
The associate director of the writing center, Tammi Conard-Salvo, says international students should look online
for materials that explain the kind of writing they will be required to do. They should ask their professors for
help. Most colleges have a writing center where they can get free individual help with their work.
Links to writing center materials can be found on our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. And that's the VOA
Special English EDUCATION REPORT, written by Nancy Steinbach. I'm Jim Tedder.
Growing Interest in Agriculture?

In the United States, the area of study with the fewest international students is agriculture. The number was
about nine thousand during the last school year. More than ten times as many studied business or engineering.
But the crop of foreign students in agriculture and natural resources was twenty percent bigger than the year
before. The Institute of International Education in New York says that was the biggest increase of any area of
study. So this week in our Foreign Student Series we look at agriculture programs in the United States.
About one hundred colleges and universities began as public agricultural schools and continue to teach
agriculture. These are known as land-grant schools.
In eighteen sixty-two, Congress passed legislation that gave thousands of hectares to each state. States were to
sell the land and use the money to establish colleges to teach agriculture, engineering and military science. A
congressman from Vermont, Justin Smith Morrill, wrote the legislation.
The state of Michigan already had an agricultural college. But that college was the first to officially agree to
receive support under the Morrill Act. It grew into what is now Michigan State University in East Lansing.
Today, Michigan State has more than forty thousand students. More than four thousand of them are international
students. They come from one hundred twenty-five countries.
The College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at Michigan State University offers sixty programs of study.
Richard Brandenburg is the associate dean for graduate programs. He says foreign agriculture students this year
are from countries including Japan, the Netherlands, Rwanda, El Salvador, Turkey, Sri Lanka and India.
In all, the college has four hundred thirty-three foreign students in East Lansing. It also has eleven students at a
campus in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. The only agriculture program currently offered in Dubai is
construction management.
Michigan State opened its Dubai campus in August. It has only about fifty students now, but the university says
it has received about ninety applications for admission this fall. We'll talk more about foreign campuses of
American universities next week.
And that's the VOA Special English EDUCATION REPORT, written by Nancy Steinbach. Our series is online
at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Bob Doughty.
Studying at an American University, Just Not in the

US
This week in our series on American higher education, we discuss programs that are available in the Middle
East.
We talked last week about Michigan State University which opened a campus in August in the United Arab
Emirates. MSU Dubai offers undergraduate degrees in areas including business, engineering, education and
telecommunications. It also offers some graduate programs.
This October, Michigan State plans to open a pre-college program -- the MSU Dubai Academy. The aim is to
help foreign students prepare to attend an American school.
Other American universities with campuses in the Middle East include Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Georgetown,
Northwestern, Texas A&M and Virginia Commonwealth. They have campuses in Qatar. New York University
plans to open a campus in Abu Dhabi in two thousand ten.
But the worldwide economic downturn is affecting the plans of some schools. For example, earlier this year
Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania suspended its plans to open a campus in Abu Dhabi.
And George Mason University in Virginia is closing its campus in Ras Al Khaimah, another of the United Arab
Emirates. One reason is the recession. But the campus Web site says that several issues made it impossible for
the university to offer the same quality education as in the United States.
University Provost Peter Stearns tells us that the effort failed largely because of a dispute with their local
partner in the campus. The disagreement involved the operating budget and academic control.
The George Mason campus opened in two thousand six. But student numbers have been disappointing. Peter
Stearns says the campus had between two hundred fifty and three hundred students this year. He says more than
fifty of them hope to attend the home campus in Fairfax, Virginia, in September.
And he says George Mason will remain involved in education in the Middle East as an adviser to the American
University in Dubai.
The Harvard Medical School Dubai Center was launched in two thousand four. It offers professional
development and postgraduate training but no degree programs. Harvard says it has no plans for a campus, but
wants to help Dubai develop its Academic Medical Center.
our Foreign Student Series are at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.
___
Correction: George Mason University will remain an adviser to the American University of Ras Al-Khaimah,
not the American University in Dubai as incorrectly reported.
A Lesson in Personal Finance

A question from the teacher. Susanna Wesson writes: "I teach English to French students of engineering who
benefit very much from your Foreign Student Series. Could you do a program on money, banking and shopping
for students in the U.S.?"
Many colleges and universities in the United States have guidelines for what they consider reasonable budgets
for personal spending.
Senem Bakar is the assistant director of International Student Services at American University in Washington,
D.C. She suggests that students budget at least one thousand three hundred dollars for a nine-month school year.
This will help pay for things like transportation, telephone bills, supplies and entertainment.
Paul Butler is the financial manager in the Office of International Services at Indiana University Bloomington.
He says the advice there is to have at least two thousand four hundred dollars for twelve months in the United
States.
Indiana and many other schools also offer advice on ways to manage spending and save money. For example,
for entertainment, look for free concerts or museums. Want to go to a movie? Prices are usually lower in the
daytime than at night.
American University advises students to check newspaper advertisements for sales and to use money-saving
coupons. If a product is "on sale," that means it is being offered for a limited time at a reduced price. Senem
Bakar says students learn that in the United States you can find almost everything on sale somewhere.
Also, many banks offer special services for students, like free checking accounts, including a debit card. Debit
cards can be used almost anywhere credit cards are accepted.
Millions of Americans now use a debit card or credit card, instead of paper money or checks, to make most of
their purchases.
With a credit card, you are borrowing money every time you use it. Debit cards are different. They are linked
directly to a checking account so you are paying with your own money.
Debit cards, also known as check cards, do not have interest charges. But users are charged if they try to spend
more than the amount available in their account. These fees can be costly even if you overspend by just a few
cents.
And that's the VOA Special English EDUCATION REPORT, written by June Simms. Earlier reports in our
Foreign Student Series are at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.
Getting a Military Education

This week in our Foreign Student Series, we talk about military education programs in the United States. There
are public and private colleges and universities that offer military educations. But international students can also
attend the nation's five service academies.
Three of these come under the Defense Department. The United States Military Academy at West Point, New
York, prepares officers for the Army. The Air Force Academy is located at Colorado Springs, Colorado. And the
Naval Academy is in Annapolis, Maryland; it prepares officers for the Navy and the Marine Corps.
Nominees for these academies must be seventeen to twenty-three years old, unmarried and with no children.
Candidates are usually nominated by members of Congress. International candidates are nominated by their
home governments, which pay for their education.
Each government has its own requirements for military service after students graduate. Americans who attend
these four-year colleges must serve at least five years of active duty.
The Defense Department chooses more than one hundred countries every year and invites them to nominate
students to the academies. As many as sixty foreign students may attend each school at any one time.
For example, the next class at the Naval Academy will include eighteen foreign students, four of them female.
This will bring the total number of foreign students at the Naval Academy to fifty- three.
Tim Disher, head of international programs, says those interested should contact the agency that includes their
own naval department. Plus, all of the academies have admissions information on their Web sites.
International students can also attend the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, and the Merchant
Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York. The Coast Guard Academy can have thirty-five international
students at any one time; the Merchant Marine Academy, thirty.
These schools have their own entrance requirements. The Coast Guard Academy says interested students should
contact the defense attache at their local United States embassy. Foreign students interested in the Merchant
Marine Academy must request application forms directly from the admissions office.
Science Students Are Promised No More Visa Delays

American officials say they are working to reduce visa delays that have affected foreign science students,
researchers and others. The delays involve a security clearance process called Visas Mantis. Through this
program, different government agencies try to identify visa applicants who could threaten national security.
The aim is to protect American military technology or technology with possible military uses to other countries
or to terrorists. A two thousand five report said that seventy percent of Mantis requests came from China, Russia
and Ukraine.
The United States strengthened its visa requirements after the terrorist attacks in two thousand one. But the
Visas Mantis program already existed by then. The State Department combined several programs dating to the
Cold War into the current program in nineteen ninety-eight.
There have been delays before. Officials said the average processing time in October of two thousand three was
seventy-five days. The wait was cut to fifteen days under pressure from Congress. But the wait time has
increased again over the past year.
Andy Laine, a State Department spokesman, says the program now has more workers and new procedures. He
says the changes went into effect on May twenty-ninth with the goal to process all requests within two weeks.
But he also says many visas are delayed because foreign students do not bring all their paperwork when
requesting their travel documents. He advises students to make an appointment at an American embassy or
consulate as soon as they are accepted to a school. They should take all their acceptance materials with them.
Higher education groups complained about the delays for foreign science students and scholars. So did
professional groups that hold international conferences in the United States.
The delays may be one reason why graduate school applications from international students have slowed for the
third year. Early findings show that applications rose just four percent from two thousand eight to two thousand
nine.
The Council of Graduate Schools says this followed an increase of six percent last year and nine percent the
year before that. International applications increased by twelve percent from two thousand five to two thousand
six.
our Foreign Student Series are at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Bob Doughty.
The Job Market

In America, May and June are the traditional months for graduations. A listener in China, Jack Hoo from
Jiangsu province, wants to know how American college graduates find jobs. Right now the answer is: not very
easily.
The National Association of Colleges and Employers collects information on the college job market. NACE's
latest survey in March found that employers expected to hire twenty-two percent fewer graduates this year than
last. Most blamed the recession.
The most recent student survey showed that just one-fifth of those who looked for jobs before graduation have
one by now. This is compared to half of students who had looked for a job by this time two years ago. But one
difference: fewer of this year's graduates have started to search for jobs.
Still, NACE found no big increase in graduates who plan to stay in school and avoid the job market. About
twenty-seven percent said they plan to go to graduate school, compared to about twenty-four percent a year ago.
Engineering and accounting graduates were more likely to have started their job search already and to have
accepted a job. These are among the best paid professions for people with just a college degree. On average,
engineering majors expect to start at about sixty-two thousand dollars a year. Accounting majors expect about
forty-five thousand.
So how can students increase their chances for a job? Mimi Collins at NACE says the most effective tool is a
school's career counseling center. Counselors can help students with job applications and preparing for
interviews. They also let students know about job openings and events like job recruitment fairs. They can also
help first-year students decide what to study.
Another way to look for a job is to do an internship. This is when a student gets experience in a position that
may or may not be paid. The latest NACE survey found that seventy-three percent of graduates who did get jobs
had completed an internship.
The group reported in March that employers expected to increase hourly wage offers for college interns by five
percent from last year. But, because of the economy, employers reduced the number of internships available by
twenty-one percent.
And that's the VOA Special English EDUCATION REPORT, written by Nancy Steinbach. You can find our
Foreign Student Series on studying in the United States at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.
Foreign Graduates and Jobs

We answered a question last week about how American college students find jobs after they graduate. Now, we
discuss foreign graduates. The process for employing foreign workers in the United States is long. It involves
different government agencies. It also involves a hot political issue.
For example, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that President Obama signed into law in February
dealt with this issue. It included conditions against foreign workers displacing qualified Americans at
companies that receive federal stimulus money.
Job cuts have slowed in some industries. But the economic downturn has cost millions of jobs and recovery will
take some time.
Foreign graduates need a job offer to get an H-1B visa. This is a non-immigrant visa for work in the person's
area of specialty. The employer is the one who applies for it. The visa is good for three years and may be
extended for another three years.
Cheryl Gilman directs visa services at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. She noted that H1B visas were still available for next year. This tells her that the recession is preventing employers from
sponsoring as many foreign nationals as they have in the past.
Sixty-five thousand H-1Bs are awarded each year to graduates with a bachelor's degree. Bill Wright at the
Department of Homeland Security says fewer than forty-five thousand applications for these visas had been
received as of this week.
There was more demand for twenty thousand other H-1Bs for those with advanced degrees. In addition,
thousands of the visas are awarded to other groups, such as university researchers.
Amy Ramirez is an administrator at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. She says foreign students who
work for their school or at an internship probably have the best chance for a job after graduation.
She points out that many foreign graduates ask to stay for what is called optional practical training. This lets
them accept temporary employment in their area of study for twelve months after graduation.
Many times, the employer will then apply for an H-1B. But Amy Ramirez and Cheryl Gilman both say foreign
students should understand that visa rules change often. That can make it difficult to plan ahead for what to do
after graduation.
our Foreign Student Series are at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.
From 'In Loco Parentis' to 'Partnership'

This is the VOA Special English EDUCATION REPORT
"In loco parentis" is a Latin term meaning "in the place of a parent." It describes when someone else accepts
responsibility to act in the interests of a child.
This idea developed long ago in British common law to define the responsibility of teachers toward their
students. For years, American courts upheld in loco parentis in cases such as Gott versus Berea College in
nineteen thirteen.
Gott owned a restaurant off campus. Berea threatened to expel students who ate at places not owned by the
school. The Kentucky high court decided that in loco parentis justified that rule.
In loco parentis meant that male and female college students usually had to live in separate buildings. Women
had to be back at their dorms by ten or eleven on school nights.
But in the nineteen sixties, students began to protest rules and restrictions like these. At the same time, courts
began to support students who were being punished for political and social dissent.
In nineteen sixty, Alabama State College expelled six students who took part in a civil rights demonstration.
They sued the school and won. After that, it became harder and harder to defend in loco parentis.
Students were not considered adults until twenty-one. Then, in nineteen seventy-one, the twenty-sixth
amendment to the Constitution set the voting age at eighteen. So in loco parentis no longer really applied.
Slowly, colleges began to treat students not as children, but as adults. Students came to be seen as consumers of
educational services.
Gary Dickstein, an assistant vice president at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, says in loco parentis is
not really gone. It just looks different. Today's parents, he says, are often heavily involved in students' lives.
They are known as "helicopter parents." They always seem to hover over their children.
Gary Dickstein says these parents are likely to question decisions, especially about safety issues and grades.
They want to make sure their financial investment is not being wasted.
As a result, "in loco parentis" has been replaced by what some administrators call a "partnership" between the
school and the family. In fact, the orientation program for new students at Virginia Tech this summer includes a
meeting for parents called "Parents as Partners."
Reviewing the Steps

For ten months, we have been talking about coming to study in the United States. This week, we complete that
series and repeat some of the advice.
You should begin planning at least two years early.
Decide what kind of school interests you: Big or small, city or rural, public or private, two-year or four-year?
Two-year colleges, also known as community colleges, have not always gotten a lot of respect. Yet they are the
largest part of the American higher education system. They often serve older and part-time students and those
needing special help. But other students begin at a community college to save money, then finish at a four-year
college or university.
On Tuesday, President Obama announced a plan to invest twelve billion dollars in community colleges over the
next ten years. The goal is to help an additional five million students earn degrees or certificates. The president
said jobs requiring at least an associate degree are expected to grow twice as fast in the coming years as jobs
requiring no college experience.
To help with your college search, try to attend education fairs and visit an Education USA Advising Center. You
can find the nearest one at educationusa.state.gov. Also visit school Web sites and sites where students share
their experiences, like CollegeClickTV and zinch.com.
Apply to at least three schools. Make sure they are accredited. To do that, go to chea.org -- c-h-e-a dot o-r-g.
As soon as you are accepted, make an appointment for a visa interview at an American embassy or consulate.
The State Department says it is working to reduce visa delays that have affected foreign science students and
researchers over the past year.
Financial aid can be limited for international students. To reduce costs, you might look into online classes or a
foreign campus of an American school.
During our Foreign Student Series we also talked about student life in the United States and programs to help
international students. For example, writing centers can help teach the rules of American academic writing.
All the reports in our series -- including programs on admissions tests -- can be found at voaspecialenglish.com.
Thanks to everyone who sent us questions. If you have a question, we might answer it in a future program.
Click on Contact Us or write to special@voanews.com. Be sure to include your name and country.

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First Steps Studing Use

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An Introduction

his is the VOA Special English EDUCATION REPORT.

Indonesia, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam.

College, University or Institute?

Colleges and Degrees

Getting a US Education From Home

What SEVIS Means to You

The Application Process

The SAT and the ACT

The Business of the GMAT

Answering Your Questions

Paying for School in the US

Working While Studying in the US

Four Kinds of Financial Aid

Web Redefines the College Visit

High Marks Just for Trying?

Helping Foreign Students Feel at Home

Coming to Terms With Academic Titles

How to Avoid Being Accused of Plagiarism

Accidental plagiarism can sometimes result from cultural differences.

Beware of Essay Mills

Writing College Papers

Growing Interest in Agriculture?

Studying at an American University, Just Not in the

A Lesson in Personal Finance

Getting a Military Education

Science Students Are Promised No More Visa Delays

The Job Market

Foreign Graduates and Jobs

From 'In Loco Parentis' to 'Partnership'

Reviewing the Steps

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