International Student News - Issue 135, May 2010

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Issue 135 - May 2010

An InternationalStudent.com Publication

Welcome to the 135th International Student Newsletter! This month we are pleased to announce the launch of the new InternationalStudent.com Concierge service - with the sole purpose of matching colleges, universities and ESL programs in the USA with qualified students like yourself. Find out more on our Concierge page and let schools contact you! Also, the NAFSA Annual Conference is just around the corner and we will be there so let us know if you would like to meet. Ross Mason Editor, InternationalStudent.com Facebook \| Twitter \| Blogs \| Forum	In this issue: Concierge Service Budget Accommodation NAFSA 2010 Student News From the Mailbag Fun Site of the Month Mobile Phone Apps Last Word
> Let Colleges and Universities Find You
With its new Concierge service, InternationalStudent.com connects US colleges, universities and ESL schools with students around the world who want to study in the USA. Whether you are an undergraduate, graduate or ESL student, let us do the work - simply complete the short online form, and you will be contacted directly by US schools that are interested in you. Find out more information and submit your details to have schools contact you today!
> Budget Accommodation
Travellerspoint has a great system for searching and booking hostels and other budget accommodations. Their system lets you search more properties at the same time, meaning more choice and better prices without wasting time doing the same search on multiple sites. Travellerspoint also combines the ratings and reviews from their partners' customers, in addition to their own 'Trusted Reviews', meaning you can be sure that a property's rating is as accurate as possible. And because your booking is processed on Travellerspoint, all your booking references are kept in one place, making it quick and easy to locate a booking confirmation if you misplace your copy. One particularly cool thing about the Travellerspoint system is their social bookings feature, which lets you connect with other travellers who have booked the same hostel as you; now that's a great way to get to know folks before you travel!
> NAFSA 2010 - Kansas City
With the NAFSA Annual Conference just around the corner, International Student will be there in force with two booths for International Student Insurance and International Student Loan. Although the event is mainly aimed towards higher education professionals, we do see some students attend to look around the various school and country booths. If you are a higher education professional who is planning to attend and would like to learn more about International Student and how we can help you recruit international students or increase your profile online - please do not hesitate to contact us or drop by our booth (numbers 820 and 821). We would love to talk to you and look forward to seeing you there!
> Student News From Around the World
This month we feature two related stories about the changes to the student visa procedures and policies for international students in Australia. First, you can read in this press release on the website for the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship about the changes to the student visa systems, which in many cases make it tougher to get a visa. The Minister, Senator Chris Evans, says: "This latest round of changes strikes the right balance between making the visa application process easier for genuine students while imposing additional checks on those who may seek to abuse the system. The latest measures include changes to the assessment of students studying more than one course, increased powers to cancel visas and streamlining the processing of postgraduate students." Visit the Minister's website to read the rest. The next article, from The Hindu online, highlights how thousands of Indian students are struggling to get back their prepaid tuition fees from Australian educational institutions after their visas were rejected, following the student visa changes described in the article above. Read the full story in the Hindu online.
> From the Mailbag
This month we have a great, and short question from one of our members who simply asks: "I've been curious since I sometimes don't know what to do when I feel really homesick and cant call home. What do you guys do???" Homesickness is a real problem for many students when you travel and study abroad, and the culture shock you experience when you first arrive can cause a lot of stress. We have a great article on this in our study in the USA help and advice pages and we would also like to hear from other students who have experienced this and what you did - Please post a response: http://www.internationalstudentforum.com/viewtopic.php
> Fun Site of the Month
If you are a traveler, or just interested in finding the lowest prices on travel-related necessities like hotels, airfare, rental cars, etc., then check out Kayak.com. Kayak calls themselves simply a travel search site, however they are actually a little bit better than that in our eyes. You can do the standard things like search for airfares across multiple carriers - but where they are really useful is their fare email alerts (where you get daily or weekly email alerts to all the latest fares for a particular route) and buzz where you can do generic searches from a particular city to a part of the world and find the best deals! For us, its worth a mention and will hopefully save you money when you travel! Search online today at: http://www.kayak.com/
> Mobile Phone Apps
With the huge success of our iPhone application that we launched back in January of this year, we are now proud to launch the equivalent Android version. The new android application provides you with all the same functionality of the iPhone application such as instant access to our blog feed, live view of our twitter feed, the opportunity to share information you see with twitter or facebook and much more. Both applications are free, so if you have a smart mobile phone such as an iPhone or any Android powered phone, download it today and please leave your rating and comments! http://www.internationalstudent.com/mobile-apps/
> Last Word
We hope you enjoyed this month's newsletter, and best of luck to you as you pursue or help others pursue an international education! As always please contact us with any questions or comments you have about the newsletter - we love to hear from you!

804 Third Street Suite A - Neptune Beach - FL 32266 - USA

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