Libyan college students want help from government

About a dozen Libyan college students gathered Thursday in front of the federal courthouse downtown to protest cuts to scholarships and aid by the Libyan government.

The students said the Libyan government hasn’t paid for their tuition, allowances or health care in months, due to budget constraints caused by turmoil back home.

The protesters say if the Libyan government cannot restore the funds, they hope the U.S. government can step in. If the U.S. Department of Homeland Security were to give Libyan citizens “hardship status,” then those in the country could seek employment outside their universities.

The protesters said that Wright State University and the University of Dayton have allowed them to postpone fall and spring tuition until the summer semester. Yet some of the protesters say their funds for things such as rent might run dry soon.

“We are here today to send a message to the Libyan embassy to put pressure on the Libyan government to expedite and send funds to Libyan students here inside the United States,” said Dr. Najib Tabal, a Libyan citizen studying graduate-level pharmacology at Wright State.

“We have been almost a year without tuition, health care and without monthly allowances — we are really suffering.”

The protesters say there are around 50 Libyan students in the Dayton region, and most of those students brought their immediate families with them to the U.S.

“Many of these students have families, with dependents and children. We’re trying to give them every tool to get them through this difficult time as their government resolves issues with funding,” said Michelle Streeter-Ferrari, director of Wright State’s University Center for International Education.

Streeter-Ferrari said the agency that handles the Libyan sponsorship funds has informed schools that it expects to restore payments by the end of this month, however there is no guarantee.

Tabal says that back home in Libya, the country has been under constant turmoil since 2011, when uprisings and civil unrest spread.

He said his father was captured and incarcerated for six months for “no reason.”

Tabal says finding employment would help students afford day-to-day expenses and prevent them from having to go back to Libya.

“I used to wish to go back (to Libya) before the revolution, but it’s just not safe anymore,” Tabal said.

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Staff writer Malik Perkins contributed to this report.

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