Saint Cloud State University (SCSU) in Saint Cloud, Minnesota has proved to be a very popular destination for students from Nepal who come to the USA for their higher education. The university has been admitting in excess of 50 students from Nepal every semester for the last few years. A number of factors are responsible for the popularity of this Minnesota school in a country as far away as Nepal.

The most important reason why Nepalese students come to live and study in snowy Minnesota is because of the low tuition rate. SCSU allows their international students to pay in-state tuition rates through the Academic & Cultural Sharing Scholarship. In exchange, each student performs 30 hours of cultural sharing activities with the local community every semester. This arrangement has worked out well for both parties. Bijay Poudel, a Senior from Kathmandu, Nepal says that the scholarship makes the university affordable for many students and the local community also gets to learn about other cultures of the world.

Kripa Chalise, a recent graduate of Saint Cloud State University who came from Nepal says that the primary reason why she came to SCSU was because of their many accredititions, notable among them is the accreditition by AACSB International. She heard about SCSU from her cousin who was a student here. She said that is how many Nepali students learn about SCSU, through word of mouth.

Nepalese students at SCSU are organized under the Nepalese Students Association (NSA). The organization has in excess of 400 members and hosts many cultural events every year, with the main event of the year being the Nepal Night.

Nepalese students are involved in many aspects of student life at SCSU. In fact, the President of the International Students Association at SCSU is Meenakshi Vaskota, who is also a student from Nepal. These youngsters from the land of the Himalayas enrich the student body of SCSU.

Further reading: Saint Cloud State University - The ACS Scholarship