Task force wants to limit travel of recruiters

Thursday, Sept. 25, 1997 | 2:07 a.m.

The report from the task force has been presented to college President Richard Moore.

Moore already has canceled an upcoming $34,000 college recruiting trip through Asia and a $14,000 tour of South America because of controversies surrounding the program.

Two coordinators of a local business - which has arranged for 55 of the college's 150 foreign students to live with local families - complained about what they called inadequate housing and other services offered to foreign students once they arrive.

"After having spoken to nearly all of the 150 students, it is clear to us that the picture that is painted to the students overseas is not what they receive here," home-stay coordinator Richard Ortiz said.

"Students cannot be brought to this establishment without a clear understanding as to the challenges they are going to be faced with concerning housing, transportation and culture shock."

Ortiz, home-stay coordinator Marguerite Jekanoski and a community college student from Sweden implored panel members to put foreign student recruiting on hold until the college has caught up to the needs of current students.

Bud Harrigan, an international students coordinator for the college, disagreed, saying the foreign student program is dedicated to providing its participants with a quality education and adequate support services.

For more than a decade, foreign students have been taking classes at the community college, but last year was the start of an aggressive $316,000 marketing and recruiting program. This fall, there are 150 foreign students at the community college, compared with 37 a year ago.

Some 900 foreign students are taking classes at UNLV, which does not have a budget for worldwide recruiting travels.

Tuition collected from the community college's 150 full-time foreign students, who pay the same $4,500-a-year tuition as do out-of-state students, will add up to about $675,000 this year.

While foreign and out-of-state students pay about four times as much for their education as state residents, the foreign student program is break-even at best because state taxes cover the bulk of educational costs for Nevada students. It costs an average of $4,500 to teach and offer student services to community college students, and that total bill is picked up only by foreign and out-of-state students.