At the end of every semester, thousands of Tufts students pack their bags and head home for break, eager for hugs and home-cooked meals. Yet, for many international students, going home is not an option. Unaffordable accommodations, diminished support networks, and pressures to find summer internships carry higher stakes. When the campus closes, Tufts goes from a place of study to one of uncertainty.
Tufts prides itself on its global reach. 14.7% of its undergraduates come from outside the U.S., hailing from 124 countries. China, India, South Korea, Canada, and the U.K. contribute most to Tufts’ international student pool. Anna Garson, the Director of the Tufts International Center, told the Tribune about the center’s critical role in assisting expatriate students. Starting at admission, the university issues immigration documents called I-20s, which are certificates of eligibility allowing students to apply for F-1 visas. Tufts offers full, need-based financial aid for tuition and housing. In some circumstances, they also cover flights home, clothing needs, and technological expenses for eligible international students. Besides logistical and financial assistance, Garson says Tufts provides a welcoming community with programs to make students feel more at home. One of these programs is an “undergraduate peer advisor program that connects continuing undergraduate students who have first-hand knowledge of Tufts’ campus to new international students.”
For most of the school year, international students’ lives are nearly indistinguishable from their American peers’. However, behind the scenes—and especially during academic breaks—international students face severe social and economic pressures.
Besides facing a competitive admissions process with limited seats per region, international students enroll with greater responsibilities than merely seeking better opportunities. They also carry the cumbersome expectations of entire communities and countries. “Tufts only picked two Ghanaians for the class of [20]27,” Martha,* a student from Ghana, said. “To be one of them means I am representing my whole nation. I have to make something of myself.” Matthew*, from Nigeria, highlighted how competitive the admissions process is: “I applied to 17 schools, and they all flatly rejected me.”
After graduating, international students face federal deadlines for employment. Optional Practical Training (OPT) is a temporary employment authorization that allots 12 and 24 months for non-STEM and STEM graduates to secure employment, respectively. “I loved STEM before I knew I wanted to come to America, so I stuck with it,” Martha said. “But I know that others stay in STEM or transfer into STEM to get that longer OPT period.” Nica Gojan ’27 also addressed this, “Majoring in STEM is basically not [optional] for international students. It’s a requirement in the sense that, again, there are very few of us who are not majoring in STEM, so we get 24 months instead of 12.”
The School of the Museum of Fine Arts (SMFA) was the most popular in 2024 among the college’s international student body. According to Gojan, many international students feel pressure to double major in STEM fields even when their interests lie elsewhere. “I was considering having at least one STEM major and then a humanities major, but that did not work out for me. Fortunately, I hate pursuing things that I don’t like, and that I’m not passionate about, so I had to make my mind up with the fact that I will most probably not be able to stay in the U.S. after I graduate.” The pressure of OPT deadlines is evidenced by 49% of international students pursuing multiple majors, compared to only 29% of U.S. students. Additionally, the government requires employers to sponsor work visas for graduates. Because of their ability to pay sponsorship fees, larger companies tend to be the primary destination for international workers, leading to competition among graduates for the same jobs at the same companies.
Other than post-graduate employment challenges, international students face pressure while still in school. Financial aid for international students is contingent upon on-campus employment. Further, work-hour caps and visa restrictions prevent them from securing off-campus employment. “International students can work on-campus up to 20 hours per week while school is in session,” Director Garson said. Gojan explained the conundrum of international students’ employment struggle, as she already works two on-campus jobs: “I do want to work more a lot of the time, but cannot because of the work-study cap. And even within campus jobs, it’s about splitting hours with your co-workers. Sometimes, I just can’t get more hours because they aren’t available.” These students worry that off-campus visa restrictions and on-campus hour limits curtail their ability to pay for personal expenses.
During summer and winter breaks, some students can neither afford flights home nor a place to stay in Medford, potentially staying homeless for months. Gojan noted, “I don’t think I have ever considered staying in the U.S. during a school break because I knew there was no option for housing for me here.” She described her stress last summer: “Even though I secured an opportunity on campus, the program wasn’t going to fund my whole summer stay. This was a very stressful moment for me.”
Matthew went through a similar experience, requesting summer housing from the university. Tufts told him he would need to pay thousands of dollars in rent. “Once the semester is over, you’re on your own,” Matthew said. “No one is listening; no one is saying anything to you. It’s like they shut the door on you.” This listlessness often leads to transient students crashing on friends’ couches—a struggle exacerbated by a lack of nearby relatives. “If something happens to me now, there’s nobody in this country who will show up for me,” Matthew reflected. “There’s no home to fly to, no family to fall back on.” Gojan added, “Tufts should be willing to provide housing support to international students of low income over the summer…. It’s honestly not so far-fetched considering that many other schools do the same.”
While Tufts supports international students through programs and visa assistance, some see the university’s efforts as insufficient. Gojan expressed her alienation at Tufts, saying, “I never once felt like this was a place that accepted me or welcomed me in, essentially, but rather I had to fight with everything I have to be able to stay here.” To international students, the American Dream is one of opportunities and obstacles. “Coming to study in America is like a golden ticket,” Gojan said. “I am trying to do my best to capitalize on it.”
*This name has been changed to reflect the interviewee’s desire for anonymity.
Photo by Hayes Stewart