SALT LAKE CITY — For Carlos Moreno and Jared Alvarez, the chance to attend college in the United States seemed promising.

Both students left Venezuela with student visas, enough money saved to pay for college and visions for what their future had in store.

Moreno, who has already earned a law degree from his home country, is working toward a political science and government degree at Salt Lake Community College, where he serves as student body president.

"The main goal to me is to improve my education and to have the opportunity to learn English," Moreno said.

Alvarez is just months away from finishing an accounting degree at Utah Valley University.

"It was one of the most affordable colleges in the whole country," Alvarez said. "It's an accessible cost of living, so there's a possibility to finish school and graduate and have a job. The environment is awesome."

A problem abroad

But both students feel a measure of resistance from their home country while studying abroad, and ripples from Venezuela's turbulent financial state have made it difficult for Moreno, Alvarez and others to keep their heads above water.

For the past three years, CENCOEX, Venezuela's government agency that regulates currency exchanges, has put restrictions on how Venezuelans can access their own funds while outside the country.

It's especially difficult for students. When it comes time to pay tuition, the school must send a notarized letter proving the student's tuition costs to the Venezuelan Consulate in San Fransisco before the information is sent to CENCOEX in Caracas, Venezuela's capital.

It's then up to government officials there to determine whether the student is allowed to withdraw their own funds and exchange them into foreign currency, according to Alvarez.

Restricted access to funds

Not all students are awarded the funds. Most of those who get access to their accounts end up having to pay their tuition weeks or even months after payments are due. And as conditions of their student visas, students aren't allowed to work off campus, and they must be enrolled full time and show academic progress.

All the while, they pay nonresident tuition, which can be triple the rates for Utah residents, or more.

"It's been hard. I'm lucky enough to be able to finish, but I know many people that they're not able to. They just go and start working illegally because they can't do it," Alvarez said. "If they don't get those approvals, they have to withdraw and just work and try to at least pay what they owe. It's pretty hard."

Taking the initiative

But there are steps some Utah institutions are taking to offer at least a partial solution. Salt Lake Community College, which currently enrolls 10 Venezuelan students, is allowing them to defer their tuition payments until the funds become available, according to Nancy Fillat, director of international student services at the college.

"Many schools just say, 'If you don't have tuition, we can't enroll you.' But we've let students enroll and wait until the wire transfer comes in, which may take all semester," Fillat said. "We've done our best to keep people enrolled and maintaining their status while in the U.S.

"It's really a humanitarian extension," she said. "It is bigger than our school or any college or university."

Alvarez said UVU has offered similar flexibility for an estimated 30 Venezuelan students attending there.

"It has helped," he said.

Other organizations have offered assistance. Thomas Reams, treasurer of the American Venezuelan Association of Utah, said some students and families have to drop out of college but are unable to access funding to return to Venezuela.

'It's not just the students'

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"It's not just the students. It's other people, too," he said.

Reams said the association tries to work with schools to provide flexibility to students in paying tuition and fees, as well as finding clothing, housing and even used mattresses for families that can't purchase those goods for themselves.

The association has also joined national organizations in advocating for policies that would make things easier for Venezuelans studying in the U.S. Last month, U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla., introduced a bill that would allow qualifying Venezuelans, including students, who arrived in the U.S. before 2013 to obtain a work permit.

Reams said the bill would help, but it's far from a permanent solution. Other factors weigh heavily on Venezuelans in the U.S., including the inflation of Venezuelan currency, which has risen by roughly 200 percent in the past year, he said.

"Really, there's going to have to be a huge change in the government down there," he said. "I just don't see that happening."

'We have to be brave.

For now, Moreno said he's encouraging his countrymen to be vocal about the problems they face, despite fears of retaliation by government officials back home, in the hope that it will enact change.

"We have to be brave. That's what I say to students. Because most of the students are scared because the Venezuelan government can do something against their family," he said. "But we have to be brave. If we are not brave, our future is going to be in danger."

In the 2013-14 school year, the U.S. enrolled just over 7,000 Venezuelan college students. Historically, Venezuela has been one of the top 25 countries of origin for international students in the U.S., but it accounts for less than 1 percent of the total U.S. international student population, according to the Institute of International Education.

It's unclear how many Venezuelan students are attending college in Utah. Other institutions could not be reached for comment Monday.

Contributing: Nkoyo Iyamba

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