I'm a Harvard international student on financial aid who was kicked off campus — here's the uncertainty I'm facing as I say goodbye to a school I'm almost fully dependent on (by georgescuana2)
As a senior and a Romanian citizen, I am part of both groups. I would have never been able to afford this education, but the university's financial aid office has been incredibly generous every year, covering all my costs, from tuition and room down to a sizable portion of my travel and personal expenses. My health insurance is provided through the university. As a student on an F-1 visa, I am only allowed to work at the university.
Normally, a plane ticket home costs around a thousand dollars, and storage and moving adds several hundred. My family was prepared to incur all these costs in May, but not now — not without notice. Before graduating, I was going to apply for a work permission called Optional Practical Training , which would allow me to work for 12 months in the United States in a field related to my major. The process takes upward of three months and is supported by the university, requiring a lot of documentation.
In this state of crisis and anxiety, our natural reaction is to gather as a community, but when dealing with a pandemic, those are exactly the things we shouldn't do. It is dispiriting to walk through campus, recognize a friend, and have to bid your farewell.The day after we got the news, there was an ad-hoc gathering of seniors on the steps of Widener Library, where the yearly class photograph is usually taken, to sit for an improvised group picture.
At home, I might not have a viable way to do my coursework and complete my semester. When seminars demand we all video call in, I am seven time zones away. We're unsure how to end such a significant chapter of our lives in a rush. Where are we going and whom will we see again? There are always hard goodbyes and uncertainties with graduations, but no one thought it would be like this. Our community has never been stronger — it is simultaneously heart-warming and heart-breaking.
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