Saint
Cloud State University (SCSU) in Saint Cloud, Minnesota has proved to
be a very popular destination for students from Nepal who come to the
USA for their higher education. The university has been admitting in
excess of 50 students from Nepal every semester for the last few years.
A number of factors are responsible for the popularity of this
Minnesota school in a country as far away as Nepal.
The most important reason why Nepalese students come to live and
study in snowy Minnesota is because of the low tuition rate. SCSU
allows their international students to pay in-state tuition rates
through the Academic & Cultural Sharing Scholarship. In exchange,
each student performs 30 hours of cultural sharing activities with the
local community every semester. This arrangement has worked out well
for both parties. Bijay Poudel, a Senior from Kathmandu, Nepal says
that the scholarship makes the university affordable for many students
and the local community also gets to learn about other cultures of the
world.
Kripa Chalise, a recent graduate of Saint Cloud State University who
came from Nepal says that the primary reason why she came to SCSU was
because of their many accredititions, notable among them is the
accreditition by AACSB International. She heard about SCSU from her
cousin who was a student here. She said that is how many Nepali
students learn about SCSU, through word of mouth.
Nepalese students at SCSU are organized under the Nepalese Students Association
(NSA). The organization has in excess of 400 members and hosts many
cultural events every year, with the main event of the year being the
Nepal Night.
Nepalese students are involved in many aspects of student life at
SCSU. In fact, the President of the International Students Association
at SCSU is Meenakshi Vaskota, who is also a student from Nepal. These
youngsters from the land of the Himalayas enrich the student body of
SCSU.
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