Two student refugees have enrolled at Lakehead University this fall thanks to the student union sponsoring them.
LUSU President Masoud Manzouri tells us they will be taking English at first, but after they complete the course, they can pursue other education avenues.
“When their English program is over, they can start their other program. This year one of them is accepted into the Bachelor of Commerce program, and the other has been accepted in Bachelor of Computer Science.”
The students are from South Sudan and Syria and arrived a couple of weeks ago in Thunder Bay.
Meanwhile, provincial government changes could impact LUSU’s ability to sponsor refugee students in the future.
The program in the past was paid for by a $7 levee students paid with their tuition, but the fee is now optional, and Manzouri says they are working on securing other areas of funding for the program or in-kind support.
“It’s going to be challenging for the Student Union to sponsor those students. We started reaching out to the University, lobbying with the senior admin to make sure the program will be running. We are looking for different sources of funding.”
The LUSU President suggests if anyone wants to help offset some of the costs for refugee students they can donate gift cards for grocery stores or big box stores so students can get winter clothing and school supplies like a computer.
