XUndosVcumented and Documented I0QlnterndtionDl Students: R Comparative;stod of TheirI codemic Performance

During the 1998-99 academic year, 490,933 international students were enrolled in colleges, universities, English language programs, and high schools in the United States (Davis, 1998-99). Studies have shown that international students as a group are considered academically low-risk students who have academic achievement as their highest priority. They have strong academic skills and are consistently among the best students on campus (Rogers, cited in Allameh, 1989; Allameh, 1989; Leong & Sedlacek, 1989; Byrd, 1991; Huntley, 1993). These studies have focused on documented students who hold the Fl immigration sta-tus. These students are often from countries where economic develop-ment is relatively high. They usually perform well despite challenges such as the language and cultural differences they encounter upon enter-ing the United States. One subgroup of international students, the undocumented, may not be faring as well academically, however, because they experience both the challenges faced by the documented students and also challenges caused by their questionable immigration status. In addition, they are often clus-tered in the lower end of the socioeconomic strata of the United States. Davis (1998-99) indicated that between 1993 and 1998 community col-leges ' international student enrollment grew by 32%. Therefore, as these colleges enroll increasing numbers of both documented and undocumented international students, it is important to distinguish between them so the college personnel may be better prepared to meet these students ' specific needs. This is especially relevant as Tompson and Tompson (1996) indi-cate, since the growth of international student enrollment has served to offset the declining college enrollment rate of American students in the past decade