The economic crisis in Asia is still raging, and Asian international students at ISU are still feeling the impact.

The crisis, which began last spring, hit hardest in the southeast Asian countries of Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Korea. Some students from these countries said they find themselves facing the same problems.

Harry Kim, sophomore in pre-business from South Korea, said he still is struggling to make his tuition payments as a result of the crisis.

“Yes, I am still feeling the effects. Last semester, the [ISU administration] had a special contract so you could pay tuition really late, but the economic situation is getting worse, so I need more time to pay my tuition,” he said.

Kim said the decreasing value of Korean currency against the dollar is causing him problems.

“My parents have to pay $6,000 in tuition per semester, and now there is an economic crisis in Asia, so the value of the money has decreased,” he said. “So $6,000 is not the same money that it was before — to them, it is twice the money it was before because of the currency exchange.”

Kim said the reality of the situation is disheartening.

“I feel kind of bad, and I feel really depressed because last semester they talked about it, but this semester, nobody talks about it anymore and the situation is getting worse,” he said.

Kim also added that the university could take more steps to alleviate the situation.

“I think they could defer payments again,” he said. “They keep pushing me every month for the payment, to pay the minimum balance, and I need more time because the situation is so bad, and is getting worse.”

Wei-ning Chee, junior in computer science from Malaysia, said she came to ISU this spring, when the impact of the crisis was just starting to be felt.

Although Chee is not personally affected by the crisis, she said that could change in the future.

“I don’t have a problem with tuition yet, because I brought enough money for one year of tuition, and it hasn’t been a year yet, so it’s not a problem yet,” Chee said. “But in the future, I know that when the year is up, it will be harder.”

ISU Director of International Student Affairs Dennis Peterson said he understands the students’ frustrations and is sympathetic to the situation.

“Since last semester, over the past months, we have still continued our ongoing talks with the students,” Peterson said.

However, Peterson said there unfortunately is not enough money to save all the students.

“The university is putting its resources into students who are one semester or one year away from graduating,” he said.

Peterson said there is currently no plan being discussed that would help students more than a year away from graduation.

“I think those students who are more than a year away, unless the situation improves back home, might have to think about going home,” he said. “We don’t want to put people in a box where they would owe so much money, they would never be able to pay it back.

“It is unlikely they would be able to pay it, given the situation in their home countries, and they would not be able to get their diploma until they pay it back,” he said.

Peterson said it is a matter of protecting the university and the students.

“If we keep deferring payment, then the students that are far away from graduation could end up owing close to $40,000 by the time they graduate,” Peterson said.

However, Peterson said there are some options that are available.

“Students also have an option of working 30 hours or more off campus and taking as few as six credits, while still being considered full-time students,” Peterson said.

If students in trouble come to Peterson’s staff, they will help them fill out an application to INS which allows special permission for aid, he said.

“Also, some students who have not completed their first two years could transfer to community colleges, and their cost would be half of what it is to go to ISU,” he said.

Peterson also said some students did not always know their financial situation.

“We discovered that some students do not have the fullest information on what the family economic situation is, so we have to have continued discussions on how to assess the situation,” he said.

Even though the financial situations of many students worsen, Peterson said his office is still committed to assisting students as much as possible.

“We are still open to talking to any student who would have trouble picking through alternatives, and we’d like to see them,” Peterson said. “We can’t always tell them what they want to hear, but we would like to discuss alternatives available to them.

“However, we can’t promise that they will like what those alternatives are,” he said.

Kim said he does not see any possible conclusion to the crisis any time soon.

“Last semester, I expected the crisis to be over in a couple of years, and at least be better this semester, and the real situation is much worse,” Kim said.

“But now, nobody can have any idea when it will get better. Every day, the situation is changing and getting worse,” he said. “I know some people from Korea that had to leave ISU.”

Chee had a more positive outlook, but she also said that it would be a long time before the crisis is finally over.

“I think that what we can hope for now is that it will be stable again … However, I think it will take a long time for recovery to get the economy back where it was before,” she said.