New tuition policy draws international students to Allen

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Local News

December 14, 2018 - 3:01 PM

Standing, from left, Dogan Bagde, New South Wales, Australia; Zakk Wilce, North Queensland, Australia; Brenton Jeffery, Hazelbrook, Australia; Nikki Peters, ACC Director of Advising and Enrollment; Roshod Nembhard, Kingston, Jamaica; Henock Ngonde, Glasgow, Scotland. Seated, from left, Henrique Miranda, Vitoria, Brazil; Diego Feitosa, Pernambuco, Brazil; Byron Watt, London, England; Trent Taylor, Beacon Hill, Australia; Regan McDonald Carron, Scotland REGISTER/RICK DANLEY

The Allen Community College of 2018 is a more diverse, culturally rich, many-accented place than it was last year. Over the summer, the ACC board of trustees agreed to radically cut its cost of tuition for international students. By dropping its rate per credit hour from $147 to $60, ACC became one of the few, if not the only, community college in the state to offer a flat tuition to all of its students, whether in-state, out-of-state, or foreign-born.

Since the change, ACC’s international population has jumped from six students in 2017 to 20 students this year, and the college is scheduled to welcome a new crew of international enrollees next semester.

 

THE DECISION has been a long time coming. “I’ve wished for a number of years that we could increase our numbers of international students,” explained ACC president John Masterson. “They just add another dimension of diversity and fun to the college. And when you’ve got kids from Colony and Le Roy and Iola meeting kids from Nigeria and Saudi Arabia, it helps them to see that the world is a pretty big place.”

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