The West Virginia Campus Workers (WVCW) are deeply concerned about the negative impact of the school administration Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) fee ($200 per semester and $100 for summer enrollment) that the Office of Global Affairs (OGA) International Students and Scholars Services (ISSS) have proposed charging our international graduate and professional students at West Virginia University (WVU). While this fee has been proposed previously, it has not been implemented due to overwhelming pushback from students.

We recognize and appreciate all of the critical work that ISSS does and fully support additional funding for this office. Especially since two staff members provide over 59 individually crafted services for more than 1158 international students. However, it is unconscionable for the university to raise additional funding for ISSS by charging the most financially under-resourced members of the Mountaineer family, a feeling shared by the numerous students who resisted the previous attempts to implement this fee.

International graduate and professional students are invaluable to the Mountaineer community. They work diligently to conduct the research and provide the instruction that is essential for WVU. They also share their individual cultures and perspectives inside and outside of classrooms, often being our local students and staff's first encounters with someone outside the US. Our international students are disproportionately disadvantaged from the day they arrive in the US. They can only work 20 hours per week on campus due to visa restrictions, and cannot apply for a majority of financial aid and scholarships due to citizenship requirements. As described in the recent letter shared by the Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS) of WVU, it is evident that the cost of living in Morgantown, uncompetitive stipends, and student fees force our students to make sacrifices on food, housing, travel, and healthcare. It is also important to recognize how this SEVIS fee will impact students from nations facing geopolitical and economic turmoil. The new SEVIS fee will only exacerbate these sacrifices and further negatively impact their education and experience at WVU.

While the specifics of the proposed SEVIS fee are the most galling example, we also want to clearly demand the end to all graduate worker fees. Graduate workers are an essential part of WVU, providing the critical labor required to conduct cutting-edge research and first-class education that makes this university function. We have seen all across the country dramatic reductions and outright cancelation of graduate student fees, at Colorado University at Boulder, Florida State University, and the University of California, and we are committed to seeing the same happen here at WVU.

The WVCW, therefore, calls on the WVU Administration to not implement the school administration SEVIS fee and prevent an unfair financial burden on our International graduate students as a first step, and further demand the complete elimination of graduate student fees for all graduate workers campus-wide.