COD becoming a worldwide community college

Four years into her pursuit of a law degree in Poland, Karina Maj dropped everything to follow her best friend's advice and enroll in College of DuPage.

It's not the most traditional of moves.

Most who enroll in community colleges, after all, hail from communities immediately surrounding the school.

Students like Maj, though, find opportunities unique to their needs. They get the chance to enter the American education system, learn English, and in many cases, do so with a community of people -- albeit small -- from their own culture.

"When you're in a foreign country, you want to hear something good from someone you trust," said Maj, a 25-year-old business student entering her fourth semester at the Glen Ellyn school.

Maj is among a growing number of students who travel to this country and enroll in community colleges. Their numbers still are small -- there are 136 international students at COD, but they hail from 52 counties.

For Elif Oyman, an 18-year-old from Turkey at Harper College in Palatine, the U.S. offered more options than her own country, where access to the system is limited.

"My exam results weren't so good," she said, explaining that she was judged on a single exam comprising everything she had ever learned. "It's much easier to find success in America."

International students fit in well at Harper, said Phil Burdick, assistant to the president for media communications and governmental relations.

"This rapid rise in the number of immigrant families in the area is a new trend, and may be why our international student population is increasing," he said.

But the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks cast a cloud over international students seeking access to U.S. schools. Many people had trouble obtaining visas required to study here.

Last spring, Oakton Community College President Margaret Lee was among six college presidents who visited India to tell the country's youths in person that they still wanted international students in their schools.

Karina Maj learned of COD while still in Poland.

"COD has very good services for international students," she said. "They explain everything. You can come and ask and they will tell you everything what to do."

Community colleges offer international students a comfortable starting point that equips them with fundamental skills, especially through the rigorous English as a Second Language programs. Many live with relatives while attending school.

Burdick noted that some international students return to their homes upon completing the ESL program, but others advance to career-oriented programs, where they can pursue an associate's degree, or to the transfer programs that prepare them for a four-year institution or graduate school.

For Maj, her post-Poland journey envisions a business degree at COD, then another at a four-year-school, possibly Elmhurst College. She has no doubt her education here could spell success in this country. With an entire family back in Poland, though, the lure of returning likely is too strong to resist, she said. That's not a bad thing, either.

"It's a huge opportunity if I decided to go back to Poland," she said. "To get education here is something really big in Poland."