Bend is a destination for beer aficionados and adventure seekers, but if a few hurdles are overcome, the city could add international college students to the mix.

In the 1990s, Central Oregon Community College drew students from across the Pacific Rim, especially Japan. That program peaked with a head count of about 80 students, but according to Dean of Student and Enrollment Services Alicia Moore, the population tapered off as the Japanese economy dwindled near the turn of the century. After 9/11, the amount of paperwork and the cost to wade through it increased dramatically, precipitating COCC’s decision to scrap the program in the 2002-03 school year.

“It was a difficult choice we made with our budget,” Moore said. “Do we eliminate a program that at that time was down to only serving five or six international students, or do we cut something that’s directed at our service region, our community? Our first commitment needs to be our community, and so we made that decision.”

Now, international students will once again populate COCC’s classrooms, but not because the community college is reopening its program.

OSU-Cascades plans to have a significant international population once it builds a new four-year campus, but because the university will start off small, OSU-Cascades students will have to take some classes at COCC.

The community college is going through a process with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security so it can teach those students.

“Having international students in a town like this can definitely bring a new perspective, and it can be educational not only for our local students but also the entire community,” said Christine Coffin, OSU-Cascades’ director of communications.

Coffin noted international students won’t be enrolled “at the expense” of in-state students, but that such students are brought to enrich the entire process. Today, the university is made up of 96 percent in-state students, including 77 percent from Central Oregon.

While Coffin stressed the cultural benefit of international students, she also noted they offer a financial incentive, as they pay higher tuition than in-state students.

Despite the benefits of hosting students from abroad, OSU-Cascades isn’t ready to embrace a program until a new campus is underway. The school has purchased a 10-acre site on Bend’s west side, but opponents concerned about traffic impacts have mounted a legal challenge. As a result, construction on the campus has not yet begun.

OSU-Cascades has had talks with INTO, a group that recruits international students, to help fund the building of a dorm through a public-private partnership. INTO operates a similar project at OSU’s main campus in Corvallis, where many of the students it recruits hail from China.

“Unfortunately, the conversations with INTO are on hold until we have land use certainty,” Coffin said. “The discussions have gone well, but we couldn’t go further without us having more progress on the physical campus. But our vision is definitely to have a diverse student population, which includes international students.”

While the partnership with INTO has been put on ice, the university does have five international business students through an exchange program with Berufsakademie Mosbach University in Germany.

One of the students, Michaela Wuesg, 20, noted how welcome she feels by the students she’s met, who have helped her plan trips to places like Smith Rock and Portland.

Sina Erand, 21, another German student, said she was struck by the difference between her German and American classes.

“In Germany, we have a lecture and the professor is up in front and talking,” she said. “Here, there’s a lot more group work and presentations, so it’s really very different.”

At COCC, Moore noted, “people are very intrigued” by the prospect of rebooting the international program but said there haven’t been formal talks about it for a while. She noted the college’s new dorm, which will open this fall, would help with recruiting should the college decide to reinstate the program.

“When you get down to it, though, the hard part is making a $150,000-a-year commitment to fund the program for nine to 10 years until you gain enough students for it to pay for itself,” Moore said. “While that sum isn’t overly significant, it’s enough to force us to have a difficult choice. Do we add a new faculty member in department X, for instance, or do we start a new international program? Those aren’t easy choices.”

— Reporter: 541-633-2160, tleeds@bendbulletin.com