Thread: ME: Camden Hills to Accept Foreign Tuition-Paying Students

Camden Hills to accept foreign tuition-paying students

By Kim Lincoln
Nov 19, 2009

Rockport — Camden Hills Regional High School has been designated an F-1 visa-issuing school, which now allows the school to enroll foreign students on a tuition-paid basis.

The first foreign student is likely to arrive in January.

The school's five-year goal is to have 20 to 30 tuition-paying students living in housing provided by the Five Town Community School District. Dormitory space could either be provided privately through contracted services or by the district and paid for through student fees.

"Our students are increasingly living in a multicultural world that requires them to understand, appreciate and respect other cultures," said a proposed vision statement for the foreign program. "The primary benefit of adding a cadre of young people from different cultures would be to expand our students' understanding of people throughout the world."

The Five Town CSD decided in March to apply for the designation through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. This was after the high school had to turn an interested student away in the 2008-2009 school year because it did not have the visa-issuing status.

The school has already received an application from a male student from Germany and the Five Town CSD has approved the teen coming to the school, said Camden Hills Principal Nick Ithomitis on Nov. 18.

The teen is awaiting approval from the U.S. Consulate in Germany, who will issue the visa. If approved, the student will attend Camden Hills for a half-year, beginning in January.

The German student will stay with family friends who live in the community and his family has agreed to pay the district $10,000.

A male student from China has also expressed interest in attending the school in the spring and two female students from China have shown interest in attending for a full year, Ithomitis said.

The Five Town CSD board is expected to make a decision on the male student from China at its December meeting. Also at the meeting, the board is expected to decide on a proposed vision statement for the foreign enrollment program.

"We hope to get board approval because this is moving faster than we thought," Ithomitis said. "It's pretty exciting stuff."

Ithomitis has also been in early discussions with three private schools in Maine about the possibility of a referral program.

Private schools have the ability to have foreign students attend for all four years, while as a public school Camden Hills will only be able to accept students for one year.

The private schools have a limit on the number of students they can accept so Ithomitis said he is working with the schools to have them refer foreign students to Camden Hills. Then after one year the students could be referred back to the private schools for the remaining three years. Also, students who attended Camden Hills for one year and then decided to stay in the United States could be referred to the private schools.

Ithomitis said Maine private schools have many students from China attending. Some of these students have indicated a desire to attend Camden Hills, where they would be more likely to be the only Chinese-speaking students and could be immersed in the English language.

In addition, he said, Camden Hills anticipates working with these schools to offer joint cultural experiences for the students and joint college visits.

At the November meeting, the board voted to set aside the $10,000 from the first foreign tuition student to use toward developing the program.

It has been suggested that students who wish to attend a full academic year be charged $20,000. New England seems to be attractive to these students who are willing to pay in the order of $25,000 to $30,000 per year plus support for housing, according to the proposed vision statement.

Five Town CSD Superintendent Pat Hopkins commended Ithomitis for his creative thinking.

At a time when enrollment is down and state subsidy is on the decline, this is a creative way to bring in more money and help reduce the education tax burden on the five towns, increase enrollment and have a more culturally diverse school, Hopkins said.

It is anticipated that attracting 15 to 30 students each year will necessitate sending a school representative to overseas recruitment conferences, according to the proposed vision statement.

The Herald Gazette Reporter Kim Lincoln can be reached at 207-236-8511 or by e-mail at klincoln@villagesoup.com.

http://knox.villagesoup.com/news/story/ ... nts/290011

I don't mind if they aren't just 3rd world welfare warriors!

Germany fine.. 20 or 30 thousand tuition fee sounds like they can afford it. As long as WE aren'ty paying, I'm fine with it.

We need a melting Pot and not a P*ss Pot!

WorriedAmerican wrote:
"As long as we're not paying for it, I'm fine with it".

However (Quote):
"It is anticipated that attracting 15 to 30 students each year will necessitate sending a school representative to overseas recruitment conferences, according to the proposed vision statement."

This will use some of the financial returns realized from the paid tuition, and, of course, the position of "overseas recruitment officer" is bound to become permanent.