Student Union
- By Tina Trinh
Olympic Gymnast Simone Biles Takes on New Role: College Student
It’s not every day that a professional athlete goes back to school.
World champion and Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles has 19 medals to her name, but one accolade was out of her reach, until now.
Starting this month, the most decorated American gymnast of all time will be pursuing a college degree.
Before the Rio Summer Games in 2016, Biles committed to the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). But her demanding schedule made studying full time next to impossible.
WATCH: Olympic Gymnast Simone Biles Takes On New Role: College Student
The University of the People, a nonprofit, tuition-free online university, seems to be a better fit. Biles has become a global ambassador for the 9-year-old institution and is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.
“I think it’s a good time to start, so that you don’t wait too-too long to start. So that you won’t want to go back,” Biles told VOA News. “I could have picked any time, but this was the perfect opportunity.”
The accredited online university also offers an MBA (master’s of business administration) degree, as well as undergraduate degrees in computer science and health science.
Its tuition-free classification is reliant on private and public donations. More than 6,000 administrators and educators from the likes of Yale University, New York University and the University of California Berkeley volunteer their time and expertise. Class materials are open source, specifically, Open Educational Resources (OER) that live in the public domain and are licensed for public use.
Students do pay assessment fees of $100 per exam. The university estimates an associate degree costs $2,060, while a bachelor’s degree is approximately $4,060.
Biles has established a scholarship fund in her name, to help incoming students with these costs. The fund targets those who have been in foster care, like Biles herself.
“A lot of them age out of the system and they don’t feel like they have the same opportunity as other kids,” Biles said.
The school’s unconventional approach is perfect for its latest student, whose journey thus far has been anything but ordinary.
“I haven’t had a traditional school experience for a while, actually going into a classroom and sitting down,” said Biles, who left public school to be homeschooled during her high school years.
“The traditional way won’t work for me and I understand that. So it’s OK ... online it is,” Biles said, laughing.
Perhaps it’s a bid for a bit of normalcy, after the recent sex abuse scandal involving Larry Nassar rocked the gymnastics world. Biles’ name was one of the biggest on the list of victims. But she’s ready to move on.
“I didn’t want the headlines, once I go out and compete again, to be, you know, that be the title of me, rather than what I have to offer for this sport,” Biles said.
Her dreams also go beyond gymnastics, into the corporate world.
“I’ve always wanted to work in the business industry,” Biles said. “My mom’s always worked in business and my brothers, too, and they’ve been very good at what they’ve done so hopefully I will, too.”
Biles said the same drive that shaped her athletic career will help her academic pursuits.
“I feel like I’ve always been dedicated, and I never stopped until I got what I wanted. So being driven helps,” Biles said.
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- By VOA News
Michigan State international students get their own space
Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, is setting aside a space in the International Center for international students.
Nidal Dajani, vice president of the school's International Student Association, said that the club plans to use the space to host events and hopes to collaborate with other student groups.
- By Dylan Ebs
International students find community during Pride Month
For LGBTQ+ international students, Pride Month, observed in June, is a unique time to reflect.
They hold on to multiple identities — both their LGBTQ+ identity and their cultural background — but coming to terms with them is not always easy.
For graduate student David Zhou, these identities can feel conflicting as transgender rights in China remain a controversial issue and spaces for LGBTQ people close. Zhou, 25, is transgender and pursuing an education in the STEM field at an urban university in the Midwestern United States.
VOA is using a pseudonym for Zhou’s first name and is not naming his university to protect his identity due to safety concerns back home in China. Zhou is not open about his transgender identity to his family.
During Pride Month, Zhou said he attended multiple LGBTQ+ events in his community and is surrounded by a supportive group of LGBTQ+ students who can relate to his experiences. But he’s not open about his identity to everyone on campus and said he doesn’t disclose his preferred pronouns to everyone to avoid transphobic comments.
“I feel like I have to make some judgments of the character of that person to see if they’re a good person to disclose [my identity] to,” Zhou said.
Zhou’s Pride Month celebrations included attending local markets with LGBTQ+ vendors and hanging out with his LGBTQ+ friends.
“They normalized being trans and for a long time I feel like trans identity is, should I say a vulnerability, brings me fear and worrying about discrimination, but having those events are helpful because it allowed me to see that queer people could just [live] openly,” he said.
At social events where few international students are present, Zhou said it can be tough to fit in.
“There's a lot of times like when they were talking about things I kind of, don't really understand, mostly because I kind of lack some background experience or knowledge,” he said.
Zhou said he is not aware of specific groups for LGBTQ+ international students at his university, but said international students are more prevalent in graduate programs and therefore find representation in organizations for LGBTQ+ graduate students.
In China, transgender individuals must obtain consent from an “immediate family member,” even for adults hoping to transition, which critics say limits the autonomy of transgender individuals while supporters say the policy protects doctors from violence by upset parents.
Struby Struble, a former coordinator of the University of Missouri LGBTQ+ Resource Center, told NAFSA: Association of International Educators in 2015 that LGBTQ+ international students face a “double barrier” on campus.
“With their international student friends, they feel isolated because they’re the LGBT one,” she said. “But then among the LGBT students on campus, they feel isolated because they’re the international one.”
Nick Martin, associate director of the Q Center, Binghamton University’s LGBTQ+ student support office, said when international students tour the center, there’s often a sense of hesitation as they enter a type of space that may not be present in their home country.
“I compare that to a year in after they've come into the space, they've again, maybe come to some of our events, they've got more connected,” he said.
Martin said graduate students have a unique interest in the Q Center as they may use the office for research and advocacy purposes that align with their studies.
“For older students, there may be hesitancy in a different way, but I think it's more in the vein of they want to do some of the advocacy work,” he said.
Martin said he thinks about how both his office and BU’s international student office can support students who come from countries with few — if any — protections for LGBTQ+ individuals.
“It's been a learning process of what those students really need, but I think I've kind of learned that a lot of students are just looking for the safe space that we offer,” Martin said.
- By VOA News
International students discuss US campus culture shock
International students at De Anza College in Cupertino, California, talked about culture shock in an article in La Voz News, the student newspaper.
"It felt like a major culture shock. Everything was so different, from academics to mannerism," said a student from Mexico.
Read the full story here.
These are the most expensive schools in the US
High tuition costs along with housing and food expenses can add up for students at U.S. colleges and universities.
MSNBC looked at the most expensive schools in the country, with one costing more than $500,000 for a bachelor’s degree. (June 2024)
Uzbekistan students admitted into top US universities
Students from Uzbekistan are among the international students admitted to top colleges and universities in recent years.
Gazata.uz profiled some of the Uzbekistan students attending Harvard, Brown, Princeton and other U.S. universities. (June 2024)
