International Student STORIES: Global Flows of Education, Labour & Dreams
STORY 7 (The Stories of Sean & Evan by Moriah Winsor)
Moving from home countries to host countries, settling down from coast to coast; here, we offer Stories from International Students in Canada. These are students’ voices and may echo your own experience. Even though they may not be known personally (names are protected for privacy), we invite you to hear: why they chose Canada to study, how they have worked to build new lives here, the ways in which they contribute and make a difference both at home and here, and significantly, how their lives cross paths with Jesus Christ.
Sean and Evan are students at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Both are international students and far away from home, this interview tells us more of their respective stories on why they chose Canada, how they feel about their university life, and their advice to future students who want to study in Canada.
STORY 7 – The Stories of Sean & Evan by Moriah Winsor
Sean: Feeling safe and stable in Canada but being an international student is challenging
Sean is a 23-year-old student from South Korea. After graduating from high school in Incheon, Sean decided to attend McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ontario has a long distance from Sean’s home, over 10,000 kilometers to be exact, and studying in Ontario has offered him both unique opportunities and pressing challenges.
Sean expressed that “In the beginning, leaving home was exciting” because he thought he would have more freedom living away from his parents in a country like Canada. Sean said that he “feels safe living in Canada”, and believes it to be a “more politically and socially stable environment than his alternative options (e.g: USA).”
Despite his appreciation of Canadian culture and feelings of general safety and comfort, Sean rated his experience as a Canadian international student a 5 out of 10. For a Canadian student who pays domestic fees from a city nearby rated their experience at McMaster an 8/10. In a country that promotes educational opportunities, emphasizes the value of freedom and safety, and provides him a “relaxed cultural atmosphere,” Sean’s rating seemed to be on the lower end of what would be expected. So the question is: why?
Many people inquire into international student’s positive experiences at Canadian universities, but fail to ask the crucial questions that really determine individual success and happiness. For someone who seems to love Canada as much as Sean does, and for someone who chose to return to Canada for a second and third year at his university, what are the challenges that he is facing that has worsened his experience? Despite being in the same program and year, Sean has found 3 major differences in his experience at the institution, in comparison with the ones of the domestic students. Though Sean acknowledged the difficulties of being far away from home and familiar culture, it wasn’t the cultural integration into Canada that skewed his quality of life as an international student. It is no secret that international students are expected to pay far more than domestic students, but Sean pays about 3 times the tuition of his Canadian peers. This alone feels extremely unfair to Sean, but what’s worse is his limited ability to work and obtain scholarships. “I barely received any scholarships…they weren’t covering much but still helped me. No one told me how to get them, I had to find the opportunities myself,” Sean said when being asked about his financial situation, “the harder costs came from groceries and cost of living because you can’t get scholarships for those sorts of things.” Sean also acknowledged the additional costs that came with being a student athlete through laundry and greater food needs.
Sean even had to spend a gap year in Korea between his first and second year to save money for his student costs, pausing his degree just to make enough to get by in the upcoming years. Since returning to school, Sean has been working via the school. His hours and opportunities for work are limited as an international student, requiring him to work in whatever position available for student jobs and accepting very limited working hours (up to 10 hours per week).
Sean expressed the challenge of being an international student with fewer options for employment, on top of having higher tuition costs. “It feels extremely unfair. My Canadian friends are making more money per week and paying less money per term. I am willing to work but the opportunities just aren’t there for me.” The problem of limited financial opportunities spreads far wider than just Sean’s circle. Some international students might even call Sean lucky for acquiring a student job as others, like Evan, haven’t had any success getting hired.
Evan: Stressors from limited choices of on- and off-campus student housing
Evan is a third-year student from Singapore who, like Sean, had to take a gap year between first and second years. Both Evan and Sean had to do mandatory military service for their countries, but Evan’s service was done within a gap year that interrupted the completion of his degree. This decision meant Evan had to put a pause on his Health Science degree at McMaster and continue after his service had been completed.
When Evan came back to Canada, however, life as an international student got harder than it was in first year. In his first year, Evan was able to live on campus and pay for a food plan. This helped Evan focus on his studies and had convenient access to classes and school resources. However, when he came back in the second year, the opportunity for on-campus student housing was gone.
Evan was forced to search the nearby area for a place to live as he did not have access to a Canadian driver’s license or a car. Evan expressed how challenging it was for him to find a place and attempt to contact landlords over the summer as he was still in Singapore. Additionally, because of his gap year for military service, Evan had lost the opportunity to live with the friends he had made in first year, leaving him isolated and desperate.
He couldn’t view his options in-person and so he had to settle on a place based solely on trust. Paying almost $700 per month, Evan lives in a very small room in the basement unit owned by an unknown family. He shares the basement with four other guys, and sleeps in a closet-sized room without space even for a desk.
When asked how his living situation has impacted his quality of life, Evan said “it is very challenging to get out of bed every morning. Every day I just question why I ever left home even though this was what was best for my future. It’s really hard to see how it’s worth it when you live in a situation like that.” Evan described his place vividly, including a description of the stained mattress-topper thin bed, moldy bathroom, and dark windowless walls.
Despite the state of the place, Evan couldn’t afford any better even if there was the option to. “Housing is really limited around the campus. Unless you have a big group of friends to rent a house with, landlords don’t really like renting out to young guys.” Even at the rate of $700 per month for one room, Evan said he was grateful that his place was at least “better than some other international students I know.” Sean said something similar, noting how “most of the international students I know live in situations I do not envy.”
Sean decided to apply for Residence Life Staff in his third year, a position which reduces cost of living and allows him to stay on-campus for the school terms. The position sounds like a dream for most international students, but comes with its own challenges. Every major break the school has (for example, Winter break) Sean is expected to leave residence as the school closes for all students. With no home to stay close by, this serves as a major stressor for Sean.
Sean spends his breaks couch-hopping from friend to friend. Despite being Christian and celebrating Christmas each year, the duration of the December break makes it challenging for him to fly home, forcing him to spend Christmas either alone or at a friend’s house as he is restricted from accessing his own dorm room. This is a problem that all international students who live on-campus experience, and is a major hurdle for those without families close by.
Sean said he was grateful to have close friends that bring him in but expressed that “it doesn’t make sense to make students who live in residence (especially international students) leave during winter break because the break isn’t that long and students pay for a month-worth rent to live there. If students are required to leave, they shouldn’t have to pay the full cost of December housing.”
Evan agreed with this observation, highlighting the challenges he had in first year trying to find a place to go over winter break. “The system of student housing seems to overlook those whose homes aren’t nearby, and the school does very little to make sure the students have a roof over their head unless an exemption is requested.” Many students aren’t even aware of the options available to them, and can feel very alone in the process of finding housing for their school terms. Some renting options don’t even offer 8-month contracts, bringing additional challenges for students who return home right after exams end.
Both Evan and Sean agreed that they would recommend attending a Canadian institution for post-secondary education, but would tell those who are interested to spend more time educating themselves on the systems, opportunities, and challenges of being an international student in Canada. Evan and Sean felt disoriented and underprepared to pursue studies in Canada, emphasizing how independent they had to be to figure out how the new culture works.
They both agreed that their transition into Canada was not as smooth as it could have been due to the lack of information, support, and resources that the school gave them. “I feel like it is their job to help us get on our feet in this new country, but they really expect you to do all the reaching out yourself,” Sean said. Evan’s final thought was: “I just think that everything is overpriced and unfairly put on international students considering most of us don’t even have opportunities to work.”
For a nation that puts so much emphasis on multiculturalism and diversity in education, are Canadian universities really doing enough to educate, inform, and support the students while being responsible for providing and sustaining this diversity?