Kuwait Embassy to Help Pay Expenses of Its Students in U.S. : Education: About 2,500 others studying here are from the invaded country but not citizens. They are not so lucky.

Thousands of Kuwaiti students in the United States have had to scramble for money because of the Iraqi takeover of their country, but the Kuwaiti Embassy in Washington has taken steps to pay their tuition and other expenses.

In a statement sent recently to colleges and universities across the country, the embassy asked that “all tuition bills” of Kuwaiti students be forwarded to Washington. And it said that all Kuwaiti students will be given a monthly stipend to cover living expenses.

There are about 2,700 Kuwaiti students in this country, and with tuition, fees and living expenses totaling as high as $20,000 a year at some private universities, the embassy could find itself with a bill for millions of dollars for the rest of the school year.

About 2,500 other students of Jordanian, Palestinian, Indian, Sri Lankan and Pakistani origin, many of whom have spent much of their lives in Kuwait, are not so lucky. Because they are not Kuwaiti citizens, the government has no plans to help them.

Typical of this group is 25-year-old Mohammed Ahmad, who was just short of completing work on a bachelor’s degree in computer science at Cal State Los Angeles when Iraq invaded. Now, financial difficulties have forced him to drop out.

Ahmad is a Palestinian with Jordanian citizenship, but he has spent most of his life in Kuwait. He can expect no help from the Kuwaiti Embassy. Further complicating the situation for him, U.S. law prohibits foreign students from working at off-campus jobs.

“Usually, my family sends me the money for tuition,” he told a reporter, “but this time they’re not able to send me anything. My father was an importer of frozen food, and they had money in Kuwait. Now they’ve lost 50 years’ worth of work.”

Kuwait’s banks have been closed since the Iraqi invasion.

Ahmad, who is married and has two children to support, said he will earn money by advising his wealthy Kuwaiti friends at USC how to invest their money. And he still plans to get the degree.

“I’m not going to quit, no matter what happens,” he said. “I came to this country to get an education, and I will get it.”

For 800 Iraqi students enrolled at U.S. institutions, the future is grim. President Bush has frozen Iraqi and Kuwaiti government funds in this country. As of this week, according to Barbara Clay, a spokeswoman for the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, the Iraqi Embassy has not asked that the money be freed for educational purposes.

Bill Carroll, director of government relations for the Assn. of International Educators, in Washington, said that about 300 of the Iraqi students were on Iraqi scholarships and the others were paying their own way.

College officials say the Iraqis are keeping a low profile. Some have not appeared on campus since Iraqi troops moved across the frontier into Kuwait. None of those contacted would agree to be interviewed, and Iraqi Embassy officials in Washington would not comment on the situation.

The Iraqi students may have trouble getting money from home. At Cal State L.A., where two Iraqis are enrolled, a spokesman quoted the Iraqis as saying that no mail is getting through from home.

It is not clear whether U.S. banks would honor private checks drawn on Iraqi banks. As of now, “there has been no provision whatsoever made for Iraqi students,” the Treasury’s Clay said.

The 6,000 or so Middle Eastern students in this country range from the extremely wealthy, whose Western bank accounts will continue to support lavish lifestyles, to the impoverished. But even students from oil-rich Kuwait were said to be feeling a slight pinch. They say the embassy has trimmed the monthly stipend for scholarship students from $1,000 to $600. As a result, many intend to live more simply this fall.

“The spending of money on weekend vacations and in shopping malls--all that has stopped,” said Anwar Almudhaf, 33, a Kuwaiti who is studying for a doctorate in finance at Claremont Graduate School.

Almudhaf said some students have tripled up in small apartments, sought on-campus jobs and applied for a temporary deferment of tuition payments.

A Kuwaiti Embassy spokeswoman said most U.S. colleges and universities have cooperated on deferments.

“Many in the university community came forward with proposals for deferred fees to assist the students and give them housing until funds are released,” said Noida Ashton, senior academic adviser in the Kuwait Embassy’s cultural section.

But some institutions are not making any special provisions for the financially strapped students. Anne Dean, international student adviser at the University of Lowell, a state school in Massachusetts that has 10 Kuwaiti students, said: “We don’t defer tuition. If students don’t pay their bills, they won’t be allowed to register for the following semester.”

Most of the Kuwaiti students are studying engineering and computer science. Many find it difficult to focus on their studies while the safety of their families is in question.

“Although I try, I cannot concentrate when my family and friends and associates are under the occupation of a ruthless dictator,” Almudhaf said.

He said some of his Kuwaiti friends have dropped out of classes since the Iraqi invasion and flown to Saudi Arabia to join the Kuwaiti resistance. But most have registered for the fall term.

Barbara St. Urbain, director of International Services at the University of the Pacific, Stockton, which has 25 Kuwaiti students, said: “The embassy has told them the best thing they can do is stay in school, because when things stabilize, they’ll have to go back and rebuild their country.”

But Omar Parham, 21, who left Kuwait four months ago to attend Cal State L.A., doesn’t know if he will ever go back. Parham, a Jordanian, has lived all his life in Kuwait. He had planned to study medical technology, and he had expected to get money for tuition from his father, an employee of the Kuwaiti Ministry of Defense.

“We have no rich government to take care of us,” he said. “I still have some money for food, but in three months I won’t have any money. It is very difficult for us here now.”