Jan. 21, 1998 Contact Maureen Shine (541) 346-3145 Source: Tom Mills, director, UO Office of International Education and Exchange, (541) 346-1208 Source: Ed Vignoul, director, UO Office of Student Financial Aid, (541) 346-3205 EUGENE--Nearly 450 international students from four nations hit hardest by the Asian economic crisis are finding a sympathetic ear and some emergency assistance from the University of Oregon. Needy students from Indonesia, Thailand, Korea and Malaysia have been invited to meet with UO officials to make arrangements for deferring tuition and other UO bills without penalty through spring quarter. Individuals with special acute needs can apply for emergency loans for living expenses from a $100,000 special fund established to help students weather this crisis. "Our international student advisers have relayed to me some of the overwhelming personal and financial burdens you and your families now bear as a result of currency devaluations, bank closures, loss of family savings and restrictions on money transfers from your countries," UO President Dave Frohnmayer said in a letter distributed today to the affected international students. "Our hearts and thoughts are with you. Here at the UO, we will do all we can, within our financial limits, to help you achieve your educational goals." Ed Vignoul, UO director of student financial aid, said the UO has a history of working with individual students, domestic or foreign, who face economic crisis that would interrupt their education. "These are short-term loans designed to help students deal with the immediate and acute financial crisis they face," Vignoul said. "There is little long-term financial risk for the UO in setting up the emergency loan fund. Our international students are always very conscientious about repaying these loans. Historically, the default rate for international and domestic students is less than one percent." Tom Mills, director of the Office of International Education and Exchange, said while many of the UO's 1,600 international students suffered some financial setbacks in the wave of economic crisis, students from four nations suffered the most devastating effects. For 199 students from Indonesia, the cost of attending the UO (estimated at $20,000 a year for tuition and living expenses) has quadrupled because their currency has been devalued four times. Mills said his office identified 50 UO students from Thailand, 50 from Malaysia and 144 from Korea who are affected by the financial crisis. Currencies in those three countries also have been significantly devalued. Mills said these UO measures could probably help students near graduation complete their programs and earn their degrees. For those students in earlier stages of their academic programs, he said it would afford them time to learn how long lasting the economic crisis might be and what options they may have in the long run. Frohnmayer also made a special plea to members of the university community and concerned citizens of Eugene and Springfield to open their hearts and perhaps even their homes to these young men and women whose personal and family resources have become hostage to economic forces beyond their control. "For the long term," Frohnmayer wrote the students, "we are looking at strategies to provide increased financial assistance to international students by working with corporations with overseas affiliations and with UO alumni." "As war and economic upheavals continue to erupt around the globe, it is becoming clear we need to be able to offer our international students a better and bigger buffer to survive such emergencies," explained Frohnmayer. "Our international students are a very important part of the university. Their art, culture and history enrich our campus; they add an international perspective to class discussions across our curriculum and give Oregon students the invaluable opportunity to live and work and establish international connections that will serve them well in our emerging global marketplace." The UO also is joining forces with national higher education associations to lobby the executive branch of the U.S. government to speed up the processing of applications for off-campus work permits issued by the U.S. Immigration Service. -30- #O-1125/Local