As an international student, studying in the U.S. is a vibrant experience — one that few would give up. The luxury of having the boundaries of your mind pushed through cultural enlightenment and global exposure is virtually unparalleled.

Enter economics and financial responsibility.

For every credit hour they are enrolled in, international undergraduate and graduate students pay $267.8 and $384.65 more than in-state students, respectively. This means the tuition alone costs international students at least $3,200 more than their domestic, in-state counterparts. To add to this, the U.S. enjoys the luxury of having a favorable exchange rate in comparison to most countries.

This results in the cost of living as a student being far more expensive for international students. You can point out that international students may merely work hard to make sure their paychecks help out with the bills. This is where the work restrictions come in.

International students are only allowed to work for 20 hours a week during the semester. And the job must be an on-campus job, with a few exceptions. This leaves international students stuck with on-campus employment that consists of mostly minimum wage jobs with little room for raises.

After having spent two semesters in the U.S., international students may apply for an internship. Given that a significant number of students come to Wichita for the engineering program, it doesn’t help that a huge chunk of the internships are simply unavailable to international students without a green card.

Are there advantages to these restrictions? The cap on the number of hours a student may legally work is often explained as a preventive measure that helps students concentrate on education and do well in school.

The same is said for on-campus employment. With students already on campus for classes, it is conducive to their learning that they work on campus. However, it begs the question: Is it a measure to keep off-campus jobs from being taken up by international students?

One way or another, international students end up feeling the pinch of the economic hardship. Economic hardship: the keyword to legal off-campus employment for international students. International students may obtain paperwork to work legally off-campus only if they are able to prove economic hardship due to an “unforeseen” event. This would involve something grand like the currency back home depreciating drastically.

Unless that is the case, international students end up turning to working off campus illegally, or worse, giving up on completing their education. Working off campus does not pose an extremely high risk. However, if caught, the consequences can be dire and may even result in deportation and scrutiny for any future travel to the U.S.

When the U.S. fails to allow students to legally work off campus, it leaves some students with few options, unlike in countries such as the U.K. and Australia. So as their minds wander during their 300-level class that they already took in high school back home, they are forced to face their fate as it is; the higher education system in the U.S. is designed to charge them exorbitantly while limiting their options to succeed.

 It helps the U.S. keep jobs within the U.S., but at the cost of international students.