[ti:Studying in the US: Reviewing the Steps]
[by:51VOA.COM]
[00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English 
[00:02.83]Education Report.
[00:04.70]For ten months, 
[00:06.19]we have talking 
[00:07.32]about coming to study 
[00:08.62]in the United States. 
[00:10.68]This week, 
[00:11.62]we complete that series 
[00:13.05]and repeat some of the advice.
[00:15.91]You should begin planning 
[00:17.59]at least two years early.
[00:19.83]Decide what kind of school 
[00:22.13]interests you: Big or small, 
[00:24.68]city or rural, 
[00:26.61]public or private, 
[00:28.41]two-year or four-year?
[00:30.59]Two-year colleges, 
[00:32.52]also known as community colleges, 
[00:35.50]have not always gotten a lot of respect. 
[00:39.23]Yet they are the largest part of 
[00:42.35]the American higher education system. 
[00:45.27]They often serve older 
[00:47.69]and part-time students 
[00:50.31]and those needing special help. 
[00:53.29]But other students begin 
[00:56.85]at a community college to save money, 
[00:59.96]then finish at a four-year college 
[01:03.32]or university.
[01:04.75]On Tuesday, 
[01:06.56]President Obama announced a plan 
[01:09.17]to invest twelve billion dollars 
[01:12.47]in community colleges 
[01:14.52]over the next ten years. 
[01:16.76]The goal is to help 
[01:19.00]an additional five million students 
[01:21.92]earn degrees or certificates. 
[01:25.03]The president said jobs requiring 
[01:28.27]at least an associate degree 
[01:30.69]are expected to grow twice as fast 
[01:34.36]in the coming years 
[01:36.04]as jobs requiring no college experience.
[01:39.96]To help with your college search, 
[01:42.70]try to attend education fairs 
[01:45.62]and visit an Education USA Advising Center. 
[01:50.66]You can find the nearest one 
[01:53.09]at educationusa.state.gov. 
[01:58.87]Also visit school Web sites 
[02:01.87]and sites where students 
[02:04.05]share their experiences, 
[02:06.29]like CollegeClickTV and zinch.com.
[02:11.16]Apply to at least three schools. 
[02:14.28]Make sure they are accredited. 
[02:17.21]To do that, 
[02:18.33]go to chea.org 
[02:26.06]As soon as you are accepted, 
[02:26.06]make an appointment for a visa interview 
[02:29.05]at an American embassy or consulate. 
[02:32.35]The State Department says it is working 
[02:35.64]to reduce visa delays 
[02:37.82]that have affected foreign science students 
[02:41.43]and researchers over the past year.
[02:44.66]Financial aid can be limited 
[02:47.77]for international students. 
[02:49.95]To reduce costs, 
[02:51.57]you might look into online classes 
[02:54.55]or a foreign campus of an American school.
[02:58.91]During our Foreign Student Series 
[03:02.14]we also talked about student life 
[03:05.25]in the United States and programs 
[03:08.36]to help international students. 
[03:11.04]For example, 
[03:12.53]writing centers can help teach the rules 
[03:16.14]of American academic writing.
[03:19.12]All the reports in our series
[03:22.24] -- including programs on admissions tests
[03:25.97] -- can be found at 51voa.com. 
[03:30.82]Thanks to everyone who sent us questions. 
[03:34.12]If you have a question, 
[03:36.17]we might answer it in a future program. 
[03:39.09]Click on Contact Us 
[03:42.14]or write to special@voanews.com.
[03:46.87]Be sure to include your name and country.
[03:50.16]And that's the VOA Special English 
[03:53.89]Education Report, 
[03:55.26]written by Nancy Steinbach. 
[03:57.13]I'm Steve Ember.