Japanese going to college in America

After my girlfriend and I finish college, she wants to move here. She wants to study and work towards a degree at an American college, of which she mentioned City College of San Francisco.

Is it easy/hard for someone from a foriegn country to get admission to a college here in America?

I understand the language barrier may be the hardest problem. She understands English quite well, but needs a bit of work on her grammer. She also actively studys English on her own time and plans on joining a "Study English Abroad" program. That's if she can pass the (I think it's 2nd one) 2nd English test... eer.. of which I think is set forth & run by the government or educational system.

From what I know it shouldn't be to hard to get admitted if she's "studying abroad." I didn't realize that you even had to take an English test. I used to teach an ESL class and none of them knew English at all coming in. Where I'm from we have one of the top engineering schools, Waterloo University. People from all over the country attend most of them are asian from China and Japan.

I suspect the admission requirements for "study abroad students," and people who are from abroad, but just want to enroll as an ordinary student, are different. :?

if she wants to enroll as a regular student, besides the usual prerequisites (good grades 'n such) she probably just has to take the TOEFL (test of english as a foreign language i think... is that what you're talking about?), prove that she's had certain shots, and have the money- most financial aid is for domestic students. though i'm sure there exist scholarships for foreigners, and the japanese gov't probably offers scholarships.

Yes, TOEFL is required to American, and also other universities in other English speaking countries.

A lot of international students take ESL program for a semester or two, which helps increasing the TOEFL score required from most colleges, and teachers of the program have resources about the college admission. There is an ESL program at City College of San Francisco, she might want to check it out.
http://www.ccsf.edu/AR/admissions.html

Does she know how to get a student visa? If not, she should research on that, too.

In addition to the TOEFL and the Visa issues, she will also (usually) need an affidavite of financial support (which I believe is part of the Visa application as well as possibly part of the University application) showing that she has the funds required to live and study in America. More than likely, unless she has a scholarship, they will want to see a bank note of some kind showing the funds in an account. This account can be in Japanese, but the bank note/statement will probably have to be translated.

No... the reason she has to pass the test is because the program is run through & by her college and is only for 6 months. (It may even be backed by the local government...)

She'll be studying English only as far as I know of. Plus everything is paid for by the university (travel expenses, enrollment, housing, etc) and $5,000 for her to do whatever with.

When I visited Fukuoka for study abroad (1 month) and as guest of Kyushu Sangyo University, it was often mentioned that they wanted more Westerner tourist, because they felt they already had a lot from other parts of Asia, and surrounding nations, etc.

Something similar to this was also stated by the mayor of Fukuoka (Yes, I saw the mayor) or one of his fellow government officials. I can't remember who 'cause of my vague memory, lol.

There was a government official who had taken our (students from US) opinions about what they could incorporate to help increase the Westerner tourism.

One of the things they said that caused a lack of tourism was the many Japanese in Fukuoka not knowing enough English to talk to and help western foriegners. Thats why I think this program is being run, and possibly backed by the local government.

Could a Japanese student get a loan from a Japanese bank and then apply to an American university? :?

There was almost no information about a loan for a Japanese student studying abroad 7 years ago when I was trying to find it. Now, not only student loan is available, but scholarship is as well. I copied an article & a site.

New Student Loan - NEW!!
A non-profit organization, the Japan Scholarship Foundation, which was founded in 1943, and is run with funding from the central government, has been in charge of implementation of low interest student loans. These loans have been only available to those who enroll in high schools, colleges and universities in Japan. This organization will be reformed into a new organization, 窶廸ihon Gakusei Shien Kikou窶 in March 2004, and will take over the student loan services and possibly expand it to studies abroad. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in Japan (MEXT) has submitted this plan for reform and $11 million fund for legislation, and it is expected to pass the Diet in March 2004. If this new plan is approved, Japanese students will be able to avail themselves of a low-interest loan to study abroad starting in April 2004.

International Student Loans for Foreign and Study Abroad Students