Why St. Cloud State's Ivorian students are in a bind

“Western Union and Money Grams closed little by little. It was impossible to get money from my parents or even send money there.”

-- St. Cloud State junior Elischeba Balle from the Ivory Coast, where fighting has cut off funding from students such as her who are studying abroad.

Their inability to access funds from home has created a mess, jeopardizing their class registration, visa renewal and, of course, their ability to pay their day-to-day expenses.

Plus, as the St. Cloud Times reports:

International students can’t get financial aid anhttp://oncampus.mpr.org/wp-admin/post-new.phpd can only work at jobs on campus unless they get an exemption that allows off-campus employment for a limited time. Many international students apply for that exemption later in their college careers; the process to get the exemption can take months.

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