The New York Times -- Education

August 19, 1998

New York University, with about 5,000 foreign-born students, prides itself on having one of the largest populations of international students of any campus in the United States.

So when university officials, working with Citibank, introduced a novel financial aid program last month aimed at foreign students, they needed to come up with a method to promote it that would reach every corner of the globe.

In the end, they chose bytes over ink, opting to market the program almost exclusively through the college's Web site.

"We are convinced that the Internet is the delivery system of the future," said Keith J. Jepsen, director of financial aid for the university, whose student body represents about 125 nations. "It is very clear to us that our international students in particular use it as a preferred method of communication."

The program, called CitiAssist Global, is a pilot effort that, if successful, could be rolled out to other universities. It is unusual in that it offers loans to students who are neither U.S. citizens nor permanent residents, the groups usually targeted by banks for education lending.

But NYU is hardly unusual in turning to the Internet to find or assist students from abroad. Increasingly, universities and educational institutions are taking advantage of the Internet's reach to aid their international recruiting efforts.

At most of the 450 educational advising centers operated around the world by the United States Information Agency, for example, prospective students can find computers with online access to assist them in researching higher education opportunities in the United States.

Meanwhile, Peterson's, an education information company, publishes a Web site aimed at students considering studying at American universities. "The traffic we get on the Web is substantial and we expect it to grow," said Michael P. Ditchkofsky, vice president of special services for the Princeton, N.J.-based company.

Over at the Web site for the English Language Institute of Mercer University, with campuses in Atlanta and Macon, Ga., students can find information in six different languages, including Turkish and Korean. The school offers the material in several languages because it is aimed as much at the parents of prospective students as the students themselves, and program administrators note that parents are less likely to speak English than their children.

There are several explanations for why institutions are trying to attract foreign students -- and turning to the Internet to do so, said Martyn J. Miller, department head for the American Language Program at the University of Georgia. "The reasons can be as capitalistic as that tuition can be higher than for the domestic student or as altruistic as the fact that the presence of the international student contributes greatly to a campus's diversity," he explained.

The American Language Program Web site offers an online application that can be submitted to the campus in Athens, Ga., a route taken by about 18 percent of applicants recently.

Internet efforts aimed at international students are not just limited to recruiting. At Binghamton University, a state college in Binghamton, N.Y., about 600 foreign students and scholars subscribe to a weekly e-mail newsletter, produced by the college's Office of International Student and Scholars Services, that keeps them up to date on everything from travel discounts to immigration regulations.

At New York University, the loan program is designed to make it easier for foreign students, even those who do not necessarily come from wealthy families, to enroll at the school. Administrators hope this will enhance the diversity and "global" feel of the university.

Typically, foreigners are left out of American student loan programs, which often ask for a U.S.-based co-signer or have other requirements that foreign borrowers can't necessarily meet. "We want to make the funding available to people who don't have the money," Jepsen said. "Otherwise you have only rich people."

Since the Web site was posted, Jepsen's office has been bombarded with e-mail inquiries about the loan program. Those interested can download a copy of the application from the site and send it in by regular mail. Eventually, the goal is to set up a mechanism so that applications can be filed electronically.

One benefit of the Web site for NYU, Jepsen said, is that it transmits information to the most remote areas of the world much more economically than what it would cost to send regular mail.

As the Internet becomes an increasingly important way to communicate with students abroad, one factor Webmasters need to consider is that access to the Internet can be more limited overseas, said Ruth M. Sylte, assistant director of LEXIA International, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based study-abroad organization. Internet access fees generally cost more overseas than than they do in the United States, and students are more likely than their American counterparts to be working on slow machines, especially in developing countries.

One solution, Sylte said, is to use simple Web design that eschews fancy graphics and layouts that take a long time to download. "Universities need to be careful to make sure the information is accessible to the largest number of people possible," she said.

The EDUCATION column is published weekly in The New York Times, on Wednesdays.

• New York University

• CitiAssist Global financial aid program

• Peterson's Study Abroad

• Mercer University

• Mercer University English Language Institute

• University of Georgia

• University of Georgia's American Language Program

• Binghamton University

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