WVU charges additional fee for international grads.

Starting this fall, West Virginia University will extend its international student fee to include graduate assistants. The fee, known as the Student and Exchange Visitor Information (SEVIS) fee, is charged to international students by the University to fund the Student and Exchange Visitor program, which maintains records for international students and related expenses. The fee for these students is $200 per semester, plus $100 if they choose to participate in summer enrollment.

According to Hank Oliver, director of Global Advancement at WVU, the costs associated with SEVIS were originally covered by the University through other funding sources. However, to increase funding towards offices that provide resources to international students, the University shifted to funding these services through a specific fee charged to international students. In 2018, the fee was only assessed to undergraduate international students, but it will now be extended to graduate students as well.

Despite opposition from graduate students and organizations, the fee will be implemented in the fall of 2023. WVU had previously waived the fee for international graduate assistants for a year but will no longer do so for these students, and all international students at WVU will be charged the additional cost.

Impact on International Graduate Assistants

Many international graduate assistants are opposed to the fee being reinstated. Sindupa De Silva, GPSS president, believes the University is pulling funds from the wrong place and the fee would be overwhelming to international graduate workers who are already facing financial stress. De Silva stated that “our plates just keep getting piled on and on, while we’re not getting compensated equally to begin with, we continue to get more and more work.”

Mark Vodianyi, a global affairs undergraduate student who is also an international student from Ukraine, feels that the fee could have negative effects on international students due to the numerous obstacles they already encounter, including academic stress and financial hardship. According to him, “international students are really overwhelmed here… and today, for an international student, you’re dealing with that, on top of the fact that you do not have family or support systems in the U.S. to financially support you, mentally support you. We are isolated.”

Mariela Zayas, a world languages graduate assistant from Argentina, said that the fee would negatively impact her because she cannot rely on her parents for financial support. She added that “In my case, I cannot ask them for help because I already live by myself.”

Efforts to Resist Fee and Improve Conditions

Many efforts have been made to voice resistance to the fee being applied to graduate assistants and advocate for improved conditions for those students. West Virginia Campus Workers recently created a petition in protest of the fee while GPSS wrote a letter to WVU administration expressing concerns about graduate student salaries and stipends.

Although the University has addressed these concerns, De Silva voiced at the State of the University address that there is more to be done. When he asked Provost Maryanne Reed about additional efforts, she responded by saying the University has done everything they can for graduate assistants at this time. However, limited resources have made it difficult to meet all the challenges faced by graduate students.

The University’s international student population has been steadily declining since 2018, with enrollment for these students nearly cut in half between fall 2017 and 2023, according to data provided by Director of News Communications Shauna Johnson.