Starting Fall 2015 semester, all undergraduate, graduate, and special international students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are required to pay a new fee for services rendered by the International Student Services. This fee amounts to $75 for every semester enrolled, including summer semester. New international students are also required to pay a one-time fee of $50 in addition to the domestic New Student fee, which together sum up to $325 for International freshman and $250 for Undergraduate international transfer students (not including the $75 fee p/semester).

Signatories of this petition call on the university administration to rescind the new fees and refund any international students who have already paid them. The Teaching Assistants’ Association at UW-Madison strongly objects to the new ISS fees. International students are an important part of our community and should be treated like any other student. This new fee, along with the process with which it was implemented—those affected were not consulted in any way whatsoever—and the way it was implemented treats them as “cash cows”: an easy source of extra revenue. It is unjust to make them carry so much of the weight of UW-Madison’s financial deficit.   

The new fees add further hardship on top of the increase in tuition for out-of-state students, the already higher rates of Segregated Fees, and the high cost of the mandatory Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP) for international students.

International students, whether undergraduates or graduates, usually have very limited sources of funding during their studies. The conditions of a U.S. student visa place numerous restrictions on their ability to work. For example, for graduate students who are employed on professional appointments (TAs, RAs, PAs or Lecturers), $75 amounts roughly to 6-7% of a monthly salary.

With nearly 6,000 international students, UW-Madison takes pride in its appeal to students from over 120 countries. Interaction among students from across the globe is an acknowledged part of modern education for the 21st century, and is repeatedly stated as an important diversity goal for our university. According to International Student Services, international students play a vital role “helping to educate U.S. students about other countries and global opportunities.” Academic departments similarly claim that the presence of international students enhances their curriculum. However, nothing will be left of this diversity if only the richest international students can attend.

There is reason to worry that the addition of new fees, on top of ever-increasing tuition as well as higher Segregated Fees and health insurance rates for out-of-state students, will hurt UW-Madison’s ability to attract international students, which in turn will impact the university’s ability to prepare graduates “to go out into the global world” (in the words of Madison Laning, former chair of ASM Finance Committee).

According to an announcement by the International Student Services (Division of Student Life), the new fees are necessary in order to improve and expand services rendered to international students. There is reason to believe, however, that this is another attempt to force out-of-state students, including international students, to unfairly shoulder the consequences of recent budget cuts.