POCATELLO, Idaho – Idaho State University is quickly losing Middle Eastern students and millions in tuition dollars over a culture clash involving several student arrests, dozens of cases of cheating, and a shrinking Saudi Arabian scholarship program.

A New York Times feature highlights several issues involving an influx of students from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait who have enrolled at Idaho State University since 2006. Many of the students participate in King Abdullah Scholarship Program run through the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission to the United States and pay about $20,000 a year in tuition, or roughly three times the rate for Idaho residents.

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The arrangement seemed to work well financially for the college and the number of Saudi and Kuwaiti students grew to 1,200. The new students also brought in an estimated $40 million to the local economy, but several problems soon began to fester, according to the Times.

“Even if they were just normal, rowdy college kids, the behavior of the mostly male students stood out in this conservative, predominantly Mormon city. Free from the strict cultural mores of their home countries, some students have faced charges like drunken driving and stalking,” the news site reports.

“Also, professors said students, many of them unfamiliar with English, were ill prepared and frequently resorted to cheating.”

Students without strong English skills and lacking in a proper math foundation struggled to pass core classes. Data presented by one dean showed in classes with more than 20 Middle Eastern students, 90 percent failed physics, 75 percent failed basic English, and 60 percent failed math.

“In engineering, every single class is scripted,” David Rogers, ISU associate dean of science and engineering, told the Times. “There’s not a lot of room for a screw-up. If you fail a class, you can make it up perhaps by taking 18 hours next semester.”

The cultural and language difference, coupled with weak math skills, convinced , Rogers said.

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“You know your funding is running out. You know you’ve come to America to be an engineer,” Rogers said. “The cultural change, the language barrier, all these things stress kids.”

Rogers told the Times that Middle Eastern students have accounted for 80 to 90 percent of recent cheating cases in engineering classes. The situation undoubtedly prompted closer scrutiny for Middle Eastern students, and many grew increasingly resentful.

“They caught 20 or 30 students cheating,” Kuwaiti mechanical engineering major Ali Alheid told the Times. “Because of that, they treat us like cheaters.”

“Saudi students are leaving because they feel they will not graduate under that level of scrutiny,” he said.

And while the Middle Eastern students have been a boon for local businesses – including local car dealerships and recently established hookah bars and Middle Eastern restaurants – some locals have been accused of taking advantage of the foreigners.

Last May, The Idaho State Journal reported on extra fees some landlords charged Middle Eastern students because they allegedly trashed apartments. Middle Eastern students have also accused some local residents and students of racial discrimination.

“Professors and officials acknowledged cases of discrimination, while suggesting that some of the (Middle Eastern) students’ behaviors — including what law enforcement officials describe as inappropriate overtures toward women and a disregard for or lack of knowledge of traffic laws — have contributed to tensions,” Inside Higher Ed reports.

The situation convinced about 100 Middle Eastern students to leave ISU last year, taking $2 million in tuition with them. And changes in the King Abdullah Scholarship Program likely signals the end to new ISU recruits from the Middle East. The program was previously sending up to 250 students a year.

“The program is facing ‘deep funding cuts,’ according to Moody’s Investors Service, which said the scholarships would be limited to the top 100 American schools, an Academic Ranking of World Universities list that does not include Idaho State,” the Times reports.