Youth Academy Café: International Youth Voices In Higher Education

This study utilized qualitative research methods to capture international youth voices regarding issues and concerns they face as students in the Midwestern US and the possible strategies to resolve such challenges. Graduate and undergraduate students representing 20 different countries participated in the study. Language, assimilation, support, religion, employment, and finances (LASREF), emerged as a fundamental six- factor precept that can be used in addressing international students' concerns. This six-factor precept was found to be consistent and interlinked with other challenges such as transportation, alienation, isolation, and skeptical and stereotyped assumptions. This study postulated that institutions should establish strategies that address these issues before, during and after the recruiting international students. Findings also highlighted the importance of developing programs to capture youth voices and safe use of social media to reveal better ways of providing a life of meaning to international students.