Thursday 7/17/14 by The State News

2 | T he State N e ws | T hursday, July 1 7, 2 01 4 | staten ews.com

Continued STAYCATION

Finances, lengthy visa applications and a desire to get ahead keep students in East Lansing from page one

“You learn just as much on the streets and in the city as you do in the classroom,” Briggs said. Chinese graduate student Xuan Zi said if she has time this summer, she would like to travel to Chicago. “I prefer to stay here to experience more of American life,” Zi said. Instead of traveling the U.S., other students stay in Michigan either to take classes or because traveling home is too much of a financial burden, Briggs said. Financial difficulty When a f light home may

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Thursday Mostly Sunny High: 75° Low: 56°

be too expensive, staying in the U.S. to study or work is easier for some international students. The price of a round-trip flight from Lansing to Beijing can cost between $1,500 and $2,000. Sometimes, it costs even more. Even t hough stay ing in America may be easier, international students have to find a way to support themselves either by getting a job or taking out private loans from a bank. Zi sa id a not her rea son she decided to stay in Michigan over the summer was because she wanted to get an internship. Although she was unable to get an internship, she decided to continue working for MSU Culinary Services. “It helps me to improve my language and get better use of the lifestyle,” Zi said. The Office of Financial Aid does not provide assistance to international students. Many

PETITION

Petition to decriminalize small amounts of Marijuana approaching signatures needed to appear on Nov. ballot from page one

ing against the will of the people.” Safer Michigan Coalition board member Charles Ream said the coalition predicts a 70 percent win in East Lansing if the measure is on the

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Index Campus+city 3, 5 Opinion 4 Classifieds 5 Saturday Partly Cloudy High: 81° Low: 61° nn

Corrections

editorial staff (517) 432-3070 Editor in chief Omari Sankofa II managing editor Simon Schuster Content Editor Olivia Dimmer PHOTO EDITOR Danyelle Morrow designers Florian Cherdron Haley Kluge Opinion editor Emily Jenks Copy Chief Morgan Redding n n

Professional staff General Manager Marty Sturgeon, (517) 432-3000 Editorial adviser Omar Sofradzija, (517) 432-3070 CREATIVE adviser Travis Ricks, (517) 432-3004 Web adviser Mike Joseph, (517) 432-3014 Photo adviser Robert Hendricks, (517) 432-3013 Business Manager Kathy Daugherty, (517) 432-3000 advertising adviser Colleen Curran, (517) 432-3016

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grants and scholarships are restricted to U.S. citizens with occasional exceptions made for students from Mexico or Canada. D o c tor a l s t ude nt Hong Lei said the process of coming back to the U.S. is another obstacle to face once in his home country of China. In China, Lei said he has to apply for a visa to return. The visa application process can be very long, taking about a month, and occasionally people are denied. “If you were to take a vacation within the U.S., there’s no issue of the visa … but if you want to take a vacation back to China and come back to the U.S., then the visa is an issue,” Lei said. To re-enter the U.S., students need a valid visa with a signature from the Office of International Students and a valid passport with a visa stamp. Lei said the visa costs about $100, but he stressed the big-

ballot in November. Although it would fall short of uprooting marijuana prohibition altogether, it would provide student marijuana smokers with greater peace of mind, Ream said. “Young people are the ones most often arrested, and (they) have the most to lose — their student loans, housing, professional licenses — they could lose their entire future,” Ream said. East Lansing council member Rut h Beier suppor ts marijuana reform, she said, because “marijuana is no worse a substance than alcohol” and prohibition “puts a lot of people on the wrong side of the law for no reason.” “Personally, I detest what marijuana does to some people, just like I detest what alcohol does to some people,” Beier said. “Some people get addicted, do it every day for 25 years and get stunted, but I don’t think that’s a good argument for criminalizing it. I think it’s a waste of money to try and enforce.” A ny enacted marijuana reform in East Lansing will not change MSU drug policies, which currently forbid the use of marijuana on university grounds.

Crossword

gest issue with the visa is the time it takes to apply and be approved. Accelerating graduation Students also use the summer break time to further their studies. Some see it as an opportunity to take more classes in an attempt to graduate early or to work on research projects. Finance sophomore Hang Lian is from China and said she made the decision to stay on campus over the summer because she wants to try and graduate early. Lian also said many of her friends are still in the area, which is another reason she chose to spend her summer in Michigan. Marketing sophomore Kam Guo is from China and said he decided to stay in Michigan over the summer so he could take classes and enjoy the quieter campus. “All the people are going back so there’s more quiet and

CORPS

College adviser corps offers underserved high school students a guide to the college application process from page one

these students and making their dreams of going to college realistic,” Johnson said. Helping high school students navigate college enrollment is far from easy though. Second-year adviser Delorean Brown ser ves Osborn High School in Detroit and said the biggest challenge she faces is what students think they know about college access. She said she did a lot of assuming her first year and, as an adviser, assuming is not acceptable. “I have to go in with a different mindset,” Brown said. “I assumed that they knew how to do it. They actually did not know. They didn’t know how to fill out an application. They didn’t know you’re supposed to write an application in pen.” In addition to helping students who don’t understanding general protocol for fill-

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“All the people are going back so there’s more quiet and it feels nice and peaceful.” Kam Guo, marketing sophomore

it feels nice and peaceful,” Guo said. He added that he heard the summer weather in Michigan can be nice, which played a factor in his choice to stay and take summer courses. Lei said he does not have the chance to take a summer vacation because he works as a research assistant and taking time to go home also means a delay in completing his research project. “If we ask for like half a year of vacation, then that project probably will be stopped,” Lei said. Lei is working on his dissertation for his doctorate degree in electrical engineering and he said it is a continuous project which could take five to six years.

During the summer, Lei said he is able to devote more time to the project as opposed to during the fall and spring, when other schoolwork can get in the way.

ing out college applications, college advisers also have to face the negative mentality of some parents. Program coordinator Jenny O’Neal said some students don’t feel they are college material and their parents don’t think their children need to go to college at all. “That’s hard because you don’t want to tell people what they think or believe is wrong. But it’s necessary for us and for the state of Michigan and for this country to change (that) mindset because we know that our workforce needs to be highly trained and highly skilled,” O’Neal said. Advisers have yearly goals they try to reach. Of the graduating seniors in each high school MSUCAC works with, they look to get 80 percent of those students to complete financial aid applications. They hope to have 60 to 70 percent of high school seniors completing college applications and getting accepted. The group aims to have 100 percent meet with the adviser, at the very least.

“If we can just get our population to become educated, then society as a whole benefits,” O’Neal said. Summer adviser training consists of conferences and lectures with experts in every area of college enrollment. Advisers learn the ins and outs of applications, admissions and financial aid. They spend mid-July through midAugust back on campus, learning about public and private colleges, trade schools and certificate programs. The second-year advisers share successes and failures and everyone learns how to work collaboratively with the personnel in the high schools they will serve. “This is our future. We’re getting kids started on the rest of their lives. We’re impacting them so they can impact us in 10, 20 years,” Brown said. “I think it’s important for MSU to understand we’re reaching out to kids who didn’t think they had a chance and we’re giving them something that they never even thought could happen.”

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ACROSS

1 Short cuts 5 Soup usually drunk directly from the bowl 9 Key designation 14 Common mirror shape 15 Load to bear 16 Grown 17 Ward with awards 18 They’re hopeless 20 Protection from a bowler 22 Floors in the ring 23 Tax-deferred plan, for short 24 Place of luxury? 27 Chanced upon 30 Mike and __: candy 32 Calder creation 35 French bread 37 Notion 40 Mooring area 41 Mozart and Brahms each wrote a notable one 44 Closing passages 45 Ball or strike, e.g. 46 Dancer Kelly 47 Contract negotiators 49 Get ready to fire 51 ISP choice 52 Isr. neighbor 53 She played Fantine in “Les Misérables” (1998) 56 Sports bar array

58 “Deny thy father and refuse thy name” speaker 65 Honolulu Harbor beacon 67 12-time NFL Pro Bowler Junior 68 False front? 69 Hospital wing 70 Scientific acad. 71 Aggressive 72 Mmes., in Cuba 73 Classical rebuke, and a homophonic hint to 20-, 41- and 58-Across

DOWN

1 Pear variety 2 CBer’s “Back to you” 3 Island near Java 4 Not taut 5 Fabric used in adhesive pads 6 How ties may be broken, briefly 7 __ bar 8 Cuisinart rival 9 Polite address 10 Together, in music 11 New, in real estate ads 12 World Cup shout 13 They may be constitutional: Abbr. 19 Symbol of happiness 21 Ornamental fish 25 “Men in Black” targets 26 Click-N-Go pen maker

27 Tourist draws 28 Memorial tribute 29 Food chain whose employees wear Hawaiian shirts 31 Perfect place 33 Sash often tied with a butterfly knot 34 [Just like that!] 36 Algerian seaport 38 Zone for DDE 39 Blue shade 42 Follower’s suffix 43 Acrobats’ garments 48 Business outfit 50 A.L. or N.L. honoree 54 Catty remarks 55 Battling it out 57 Sleepyhead in an Everly Brothers hit 59 “Not a chance!” 60 Lord’s partner 61 “Juno” actor Michael 62 Advanced 63 Sunup point 64 Skirt in a Degas painting 65 iPad download 66 SEC school

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SOLUTION MONDAY’S PUZZLE SOLUTION TO TO WEDNESDAY’S PUZZLE

7/17/14

Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit, 1 to 9. For strategies on how to solve Sudoku, visit