This is Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English Education Report.

This week, we begin a series of reports about how students in other countries can attend colleges and universities in the United States.

The last time we broadcast our Foreign Student Series was two years ago. Since then we have gotten more requests for information about how to attend American schools. So we will offer new reports in our series with the most current information.

Each week, we will discuss a part of the process of becoming an international student in the United States. Each report will also appear on the Internet at voaspecialenglish.com. Currently you can find the programs from the last time our series aired.

Foreign students who want to study in the United States have many questions. How do I find out about American colleges? How do I choose the right one for me? What tests must I take? What kinds of documents will I need? How much will it cost? We will answer these and other questions in our reports.

We will discuss the American system of higher education. We will tell about financial aid and rules about working in jobs while a student. We will discuss required tests and explain English language requirements. And we will tell where to find help in other countries.

Our reports will also describe a few of the 3000 colleges and universities in the United States. We will discuss programs of study as well as living situations at American schools. For students without the ability to come to the United States, we will tell how to take classes by computer. We will also examine how the threat of terrorism has changed some of the rules for study in the United States.

In researching our series, we talked not only to officials in education and government, but also to some foreign students. Most students say planning ahead helped make their educational experience successful. That is the purpose of this series - to help you plan.

We would like to hear from anyone who has a question about studying in the United States. We will try to answer as many questions as possible as part of our series in the coming weeks. Send your questions to [email protected].

This VOA Special English Education Report was written by Nancy Steinbach. This is Gwen Outen.