Byounghee Min, a second-year student at Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, said the South Korean foundation that had given her a scholarship to study at Harvard has notified her that it would have to delay giving her living expenses for a month.
"I'm okay right now because I have a little reserve money...but only for one month," she said. "I'm praying that the situation will get better."
Another South Korean graduate student, who also asked to remain anonymous, said South Korean firms used to give employees studying at Harvard living expenses as well as tuition, but now students must pay for living expenses out of their own pockets.
According to the South While the consulate has not yet finished compiling statistics on South Korean students forced to withdraw because of the crisis, some Boston-area schools are making provisions for the students. Lawrence E. Bethune, vice-president for student affairs at Berklee College of Music, said 6 percent of its total student population is Korean. "We are allowing our Korean students to pay only 60 percent up front and pay the other 40 percent in April," Bethune said. While describing the next couple of years as "difficult," Professor of Korean History Carter J. Eckert said he was relatively optimistic about South Korea's future. "I think people are going to pull together," he said. Eckert said he admired the "spirit" of Korean and Korean-American students from all over the U.S. who have been asking him for his advice on how to solve the crisis. Perhaps because of this "spirit" however, the sophomore who spoke on condition of anonymity said the economic downturn in South Korea has also turned South Koreans against students who study abroad and use up foreign exchange. "I think [hostility] is prevalent because the majority of [college] students who come aren't the brightest of students and [come because they] couldn't handle the Korean system," the sophomore said. "Also, they tend to be rich and wasteful, spending a lot of money in the U.S." Still, the student said he believes the prestige of the Harvard name has shielded him from the general social censure of studying abroad. "Koreans are more obsessive about Harvard than any other college, and are probably more obsessive about Harvard than any other people," he said. "If you go to Harvard, they think you're a good kid." Bahk agreed with the sophomore. "[My family] has a different attitude toward Harvard," Bahk said, explaining that his entire extended family is chipping in so that he could stay at Harvard. "[Since] I go to Harvard, they're willing to support me 100 percent," Bahk said. "They think it's not a waste of money." --Elizabeth Gudrais contributed to the reporting of this story.