Authors: Daniel Munera, Isabella Valdez, Samuel Roth, Ethan Curl
If you’ve ever been to the University of North Texas and visited the student center Union, dining halls, labs, or libraries, you might notice how international students make up a large part of the workforce.
If you try to look into the exact numbers of demographics represented by student workers at UNT, there are not many clear answers.
According to the 2022-2023 Annual Report by the International Affairs office at UNT, more than 7,500 international students are currently enrolled at UNT. The total number of students enrolled at UNT as of 2023 (including online) is around 47,000.
Given the time constraints on Curricular and Optional Practical Training, these are not sustainable options for international students.
After the cutoff for Practical Training, employers may potentially sponsor a Work Visa, but are likely avoid this option due to costly government fees and legal advice.
International students also face increased vulnerability as a group, not only because of financial hardship, (which manifest in them working more hours, losing sleep, having less time for studying...) but also because they are in a new environment and experience isolation more severely.
Study abroad provides many great opportunities for students across the world to study while traveling in different countries. Study abroad consults make money by sending students to UNT and earning a commission off of the student’s tuition payments.
According to this post on UNT's unofficial reddit page, an international student talks about their experience when applying, claiming that UNT has a relationship with many consults in India.
Student enrollment specifically from India increased by over 1000% since 2017. International students from India are the largest nationality represented with 4,970 individuals. International students from Mexico are the second largest at 391.
The previous reddit post's user noticed the change in student workers when visiting the university after graduating in 2019 stating: "Every single dining worker I see is Indian. What caused this influx of South Asian students?"
This leaves international students with not that many options to provide for themselves. Excluding students that can rely on their parent’s income, they must either work an on-campus job, or find an employer offering Practical Training.
Student workers at UNT need a labor union.
UNT should not continue these unequal labor practices any longer, and especially not when they occur to this degree. Even if some of the on-campus jobs provide good work experience and this somehow justified the low wages, many positions do not provide field related experience. More specifically, the dining hall workers do not gain field specific work experience.
Many people know about this issue at UNT, but not many people really know how to do anything about it. There are many obstacles to overcome before the issue will be resolved, but public pressure by a student worker group called Raise the Wage UNT contributed to raising the wage from $8.50/hour back in 2022. Check out our article on getting involved.
I would be remiss if I did not mention the person who educated me on this issue, Parker. He told me about how many of the international students he gives rides to have to deal with many problems that stem from low wages like not being able to afford a car and taking on 5 or more roommates. He even told me has dug into his already tight finances to make sure some of his friends could make rent one time, and regularly paid for their meals too.
This issue affects many students, not just international students. In our next blog, we will discuss just how this problem reaches across many aspects of student life at our campus and who it affects the most.
It is your (and all of our) responsibility to fix these issues. We cannot only blame the university anymore but have to take personal responsibility in order to fix this. The only way to ensure that the wage goes up a fair amount is through threat of unionization. Learn more about unions and how they can help you secure decent wages.