What to Know Before Applying to College Overseas

In high school when it came to planning my future, the path was clear: GO TO COLLEGE. Whether it was my parents or my college advisor, the mission was clear: GO. TO. COLLEGE. Everyone seemed to be pushing me to apply, get admitted, and attend college, but no one ever spoke about what happened after that. Of course, we're told after college, you get a job, but what everyone failed to mention was that where you went to college not only affects what job you can get but it does NOT guarantee you a job. I am tired of adults lying to young kids about their future just to get them to apply for college overseas without telling them the truth about studying overseas and what happens after your 4 years are up.

I have witnessed many students go abroad to college all excited about pursuing their dream career to only realize after spending the 4+ years studying and thousands of dollars financing those studies, things are not working out the way they imagined. Not only can this be soul-crushing, but it leaves our young talented students in a vulnerable place.

As Caribbean students, especially young Sint Maarteners, we often move to larger countries like the US, Canada, Netherlands, and the UK to further our studies. Depending on the passport you carry, in most instances, you are considered an international student.

Because you are an international student, the education system assumes that 1) you are wealthy so you can afford the high tuition costs or 2) your country of origin provides enough financial aid to fund your education. If you didn't know this already, if you are an international or out of state student, college is gonna cost you more.

Being from the Caribbean region, specifically Sint Maarten, 1) the grants available to students are minimal, and the funds available from Study Financing do not come close to covering the costs of attending most overseas colleges and universities and 2) if you are studying a degree outside of tourism, the job opportunities after graduation are limited if they exist at all and your salary will be significantly reduced compared to global averages. That is not great news considering you spent a lot of money to get that degree and are making a fraction of what your peers in the same field are making.

The other fun fact of being an international student that people fail to emphasize is that just because you are studying in a country overseas does not mean you can work in that country (even part-time) and it definitely does not guarantee you can live there once you are out of school. Most students when moving overseas for college are thinking of getting work in that country, but not every country makes it easy for its immigrants to work.

In addition, being an international student can impact your ability to get internships in that country which affects your career launch post-graduation. Most corporations need to sponsor international immigrants if they wish to employ them, but this comes at a great cost to that business. As a result, many companies and industries do not offer immigration sponsorship for international students, making the job pool quite small with a lot of competition.

To top it all off, depending on the professional path you chose for your career, picking the wrong country to study in can come at a great cost. For example, let us say Rohit wants to be a lawyer. The top law schools are in the US, so Rohit's parents push him to get into an American college. Rohit spends 4 years studying business at NYU and 2 more years studying corporate law at Columbia and passes the bar in the state of New York. Rohit is from Sint Maarten, which unfortunately practices law in Dutch, so his American law degree is pretty much useless there. Most law firms in NY do not offer sponsorship because there many newly minted lawyers to choose from, so he finds it difficult to gain employment in NY. Assuming his parents could only pay for part of his education, he has stalked up quite some debt. Rohit is feeling defeated because this was not the life he imagined.

Similarly, let us say Melissa has a CARICOM passport but has lived on Sint Maarten her entire life. She wants to study to become a doctor, so she moves to the Netherlands as so do many of her friends. She attends an English speaking medical school and passes with flying colors. She has fallen in love with living in Europe and wishes to work at a major hospital in Rotterdam. Unfortunately, because of her immigration status, she cannot find employment in the Netherlands because they prioritize their own citizens over immigrants. She returns to the island to be told she is overqualified for most positions and thus has to take a large pay cut to gain employment.

There are a lucky few that find that company willing to sponsor them or they have family ties that allow them to gain residency in the country they studied in. For most Caribbean students, because the region has failed to invest in creating opportunities for our young graduates, they are left with significant debt and are given little room to dig themselves out of it.

Parents: I know you want the best for your kid, who doesn't? You need to be honest with your children about the world outside of the Caribbean region because the outside world will not treat them fairly even if they are beyond qualified and talented.

When moving abroad especially for college, it is important to discuss not just the moving plan but the exit strategy. Planning your exit strategy, in the beginning, ensures you are not going down a path that will reap little reward. Planning with the end in mind allows you to work actively on developing connections while at college, so you can thrive after college. When picking your career and where you plan on developing your skills, you must think about where you plan on living after and is the country you're studying in helping with that vision? Does your dream school help international students with employment? Do they offer employment to international students even if the country you're studying in does not? Does studying in that country limit your employment options in other countries? All of these answers matter and factor into why you are going to college in the first place.

Before you apply or before you spend all that money trying to improve your life, I really want you to think about, what is the ultimate end goal? College is meant to help you get there; it shouldn't be the obstacle stopping you. When picking the country you wish to study, do not just fall for the hype because it will leave you unemployed and in debt. Really focus on that end goal and whether or not that country will help you get there.

If your goal was to return to the region, picking the right country to give you the knowledge to reinvest in your island is key, but while you're doing that, work on cultivating the relationships needed for employment after college.

My goal with this piece is not to deter young students from going to college, but rather to enlighten them that having a degree does not guarantee the doors will open for you even if everyone tells you they will.

Sometimes you have to make your own door and open it yourself.