VietNamNet Bridge – Currently, community colleges remain the top choice for many Vietnamese students who want to study abroad in the US, thanks to lower tuition and a shorter learning duration.

In US, the tuition is generally between $10-15,000 per annum for state-run universities, and 25-30,000 for private-run universities, while the figures are just $5-7,000 per annum for community colleges.

According to Mark A. Ashwill, Director of IIE Vietnam (Institute of International Education), Vietnamese students prefer community colleges because the colleges do not set such high requirements on students to be eligible to be enrolled. While most US universities set high requirements on learning capacity, TOEFL and SAT scores, community colleges do not set overly strict requirements.

In the state of California, for example, students do not have to finish high school to be eligible to study at community colleges, while they just have to prove they have capability to learn there.

According to the US General Consulate in Vietnam, in the period between January 2007 and September 30 of this year, 9,054 visas had been granted to Vietnamese students to go to the US to study, 70% of whom had applied to community colleges.

The three states that are the most popular choices for Vietnamese students are California, Texas and Washington.

Surveys by human resource firms in the US showed that there is a gap between the income of the graduates of community colleges and the graduates of universities. Ho Minh, 28, a Viet Kieu, who graduated from a community college, related that she could earn only $2,000 a month. In order to earn a better income, Minh is trying to arrange her time to study at the university level.

George R. Boggs, a US education expert, said that community colleges are witnessing rapid development in the US education sector, with 1,200 colleges and 11 million students. Vietnamese overseas study consultancy firms, for many reasons, do not provide enough information to learners for their choices.

Dr Ashwill also said that there are approximately 300 consultancy firms in HCM City, and there are many choices. Some firms provide good information, while others cannot meet the demand for information for clients.

(Source: TBKTVN)