Am I really the ‘I’ in FIU?

photo provided by Lee Mcloughlin

Lee Mcloughlin/Guest Columnist

Completing a month in Miami after arriving from Belize, I’d finally done it— I received my social security card. My relief was palpable, my already bare finances were drying up. I rushed to the International Student Scholar Services office. After collecting yet another batch of paperwork I apparently needed to take over to Human Resources, I was cheerfully handed a rolled-up t-shirt by the girl behind the Plexiglass screen. As I unrolled it,  I had to suppress an ironic laugh, it said; “I am the ‘I’ in FIU.” Really? If international students are held in such high regard as to represent one of the three words in the name of this university, then why, I wonder, does the claim fall so far short of reality?

Let me introduce you to the vicious reality.

Just a week earlier I had been informed that my Graduate Teaching Assistant contract had been canceled because I had not completed the employee sign-in forms in time. This contract represented the income I had been promised by FIU before arriving in Miami. Why wasn’t I able to complete the employee sign-in forms? Apparently, if you don’t have a social security number, you can’t complete the form.

In order to get a Social Security number, you need a permanent address which is no easy task. If you have encountered the hell that is the Miami housing market, just imagine the Kafkaesque nightmare of trying to find rental accommodation without a credit history, a problem for those of us coming from another country. Even where there wasn’t a housing association to get past, most landlords were asking for six months’ rent in advance. Additionally, the social security Administrations offices are closed due to the pandemic. There is no online appointment booking system and the automated telephone system seems to have been developed in the 1980s and never updated. If you are lucky enough to get through, you better not try speaking to the robot with a non-American accent! 

Was I naïve to believe the hype; “We are glad you chose Florida International University to pursue your education. As a dynamic institution of learning with a diverse student population with more than 3500 international students from over 140 countries, we are so proud to have you here!”? Relative to some horror stories I have heard from other international students, I think I was fairly lucky. A colleague told me last week that she still has not received her Social Security number. This becomes even more serious when you consider the immense front-loaded costs of arriving in a new city where you will be living for the next 4 to 8 years— your transportation, electrical, water, sewer, wireless and mobile internet, furniture, kitchenware – the list seems endless. On top of this, as you are trying to negotiate the wild west of the real estate market, those of us moving to Miami have to deal with the spiraling costs of temporary accommodation. 

When I reached out to FIU for advice on how to deal with this financial stress I was abruptly told that 1) I should look for an additional on-campus job and 2) I had told U.S. Immigration that I would be able to support myself financially. However, there is a flaw in these recommendations. 

First, for any on-campus job (even though these are limited and difficult to receive while on a graduate assistantship), I would need a social security number. Additionally, I certainly hadn’t expected that my (already meager) GA contract would be cancelled when I told immigration I expected to be able to support myself.

I finally received my first paycheck on the 24th of September, almost two months after arriving in Miami, only to find that my compulsory Graduate Health Insurance contribution had been deducted. Is this really the best time for this deduction? 

Fair enough you might say, it’s not FIU’s fault there is a pandemic or that the social security Administration had an operating budget cut of 13% from 2010-2021. I agree, but surely it is FIU’s job to be aware that these things are happening and planning and budgeting to help ensure that international students are not left facing severe financial hardship.

My intention is not to simply complain and attack here, there is a serious financial problem facing international students during the first few months of their program. I hope that FIU is willing to listen to the voices of the many international graduate assistants who find themselves in this situation and will continue to do so every single year. I hope that FIU looks to the types of programs that other universities implement to protect their international graduate students. 

These could include providing a settlement allowance that is not conditional on holding a social security number, offering decent temporary housing to new international student arrivals while they navigate the real estate market, and providing up-to-date information from the social security administration on the average time international students will have to wait before actually receiving financial support.

Hopefully, FIU is willing to address these issues so their warm and welcoming rhetoric starts to carry some more substance.

DISCLAIMER:

The opinions presented within this page do not represent the views of PantherNOW Editorial Board. These views are separate from editorials and reflect individual perspectives of contributing writers and/or members of the University community

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