SINGAPORE
Continued from Page 1
other states
i>*ongcame to Eugene Iasi year
to study business and said she
feels (.heated hv rising I lists and
( ills in the program
"Thu business school has real
Iv suffered since the budget i uts,"
I.eong said "They don't offer
some ( nurses anymore, prides
sors have left, and lots of TAs are
teaching ( lasses
Complaints like Leung's are
getting liai k to Singapore and are
having an effis 1 on college -hound
Singaporeans Budget i uts and
rising tuition costs are just part
of the reason Singaporean stu
dents, once the largest group of
international students on ( am
[His, aren't coming to the Uni
versity anymore
Singaporeans attending col
liigi-s and universities in the I lint
ed States an* ini reusing at a rate
of 1 to fi pen ent a year, hut the
number of Singaporeans study
ingut the University peaked in
1‘lHfi nl 3f>H 'Hiis wos the record
[fir international students from
one nation Sinew then. the num
ber of Singaporeans at tin- Uni
varsity has dor lined dramatically
Thom nm now only alnnit ‘Ml Sin
gaporoans. dropping tho group to
fifth pliii ii aiming Internationa!
students, behind the Japanese.
Taiwanese, Indonesians and
South Koreans
In general, the numlier of stu
dents from Asia at the Universi
ty has Issm on the riv
Ke< ruiting of non-resident stu
dents is a vital part of the Uni
versity s (dan to make up for a
SiiO-milhon budget shortfall, said
(Christopher Simpson, dins tor of
the l Imversity Office of (Commu
nications and Marketing f very
100 non residents equal anoth
er million dollars in revenue for
the l Iniversitv Ini reasingly, Asia
is seen by llie University ns a
good (ilar e to find more non-res
idont students, he said
About one third of the fi.OOO
non resident students at the Uni
versilv an- international students.
mostly from Asia Students from
Asia at t omit for more than $10
million in tuition revenue .t year
Despite the dramatit det line
m the number of Singaporeans.
University ofTu nils don’t («"••! this
is a sign of things to t ome with
other international students. such
as the fapanese. w hose numlmrs
have re.it hed )r>8
I kinda doubt it unless the
et tinomv falters or the Japanese
build more universities and pro
\ ido more at i ess. suit! James K
Hut li. director of Admissions
The Japanese and other students
from Asia w ill t ontinue to t ome
to the University for the Ameri
can exponent o and an opportu
nity to get an education, he said
However, if tuition < ontinues
to rise, it w ill hurl the l Olivers!
tv's ahilitx to compote with oth
er s< hools for international and
other non resident students.
Simpson saul
The University is still a rnid
prieed school at $10,000 a veur
in tuition, i ompetmg well with
state si hools sin h as the Unixer
sit\ of Colorado. whn h < harges
non-residents about 51 1.000 a
year. Simpson said As long .is
tuition at the t 'Diversity does not
.■si eod its market pm e he said,
non resident students will still
come
We haven't esi ceded it yet.
but yy are dam close " Simpson
sn i d
The pert option that the value
of the 1 'iinersity is going down
is playing a major part in the
dei ision of Singaporeans to go
elsewhere With a S-’.UOO increase
in out of state tuition from last
y ear it is getting harder to |uslify
coming to the University Sin
gaporean students said
It used to tie pretty cheap and
no sales tax.' said sophomore
Mery in (’.him Now Chua would
eni mirage other Singaporeans to
go to states like Texas where fees
and tuition are still low
S'in I eng I-eong, who is getting
a sis otld deg,ree at the Universi
ty said her cousin wanted to
i time to Oregon also, hut couldn't
afford to after last year's large
Because this
"It'S a free country"
Stuff only
goes Bo far.
It's everyv^riere
you. wartt to be.
C VtM USA Inc
tuition mi rease
The loss of the phvsh al edu
t .at ion ma|or was i iteii hv Puran
Katmun. a student adviser at the
Singapore (/insulate in t-os Ange
li*s. as an example of how < uts in
programs have dis reased the sal
lie of the University to students
from Singapore
( uts and costs are not the onK
fai tors whit h have made it hard
er for Singaporeans to attend the
University
Some of the other reasons are
tougher admission requirements,
increased i ompetition from oth
er universities, too main Singa
poreans the lai k of nightlife and
even the weather
The first year the University
had a ties rease in the number of
Singaporeans was coin
tiding with the University's
change in admission require
meats
Since l'IH7, students from
Itritisfi education systems, such
as Singapore, ni«ed passing grades
m two A level examinations This
is equivalent to the freshman
requirement i hanged from a high
si hool UP A of 7 7ri to 3.0. Buch
said
Tlearly, changing to two A
levels i ut out a t hunk of stu
dents,” he said
I fie University had been an
option for students who could
not get admitted to the highly
competitive si hoots in their own
country
But that situation is also chang
ing A couple of new colleges
have opened in Singapore, mak
ing it easier for students to attend
school m their own country The
University is in addition facing
ini reased competition from col
leges anil universities in the I 'n it -
ed States and Australia
Since the late IMHOs, Australian
universities have been aggres
sivrlv recruiting in Singapore and
other Asian i ountries In a hid for
the same brain power and tuition
revenues, many U S colleges and
universities have las-n doing like
VS l se
1'ln* I'ni\ ersit y relies mainly
on word-of-mouth and dons not
actively meruit in Asia, said
Margo Kamsing, an internation
al student adviser from the Uni
versity Office of International
Education and Kxchange. Mow
ever. University officials do
keep in contact with alumni
from Singapore.
"We ask them to encourage
their children and others to come
to the University of Oregon,"
Ramsing said
There were just too many Sin
gaporeans, at one time The large
Singaporean community at the
University made some students
feel too much at home
"The idea of going abroad is to
experience a whole new life,"
Sink Loon I.eong said "if I
wanted to study with Singapore
ans I i ould have stayed home "
Other international students
on i ampus feel the same wav
"I probably wouldn’t have
i hosen the l of () if there were
more Japanese here." said Mivu
ki I’agut hi. a sophomore from
Japan
The declining number of Sin
gaporean students might have
something to do with Kugene's
nightlife, said James I.eong, a
senior from Singapore
"It's just a university town,
small, not a lot of activ dies and
far from the big < ities," I.eong
said "I'm getting a good educa
tion but I'm not having a good
time "
I.eong also feels it is hard to
adjust to dreary Oregon weather
when you're from tropical Sin
gapore
"I'm pay ing $ 10,000 a year
and getting rained on," I.eong
said.