According to the MSU Office of Admissions, most of MSU’s international students come from Asian countries that could exemplify an emphasis on education in Asian households.

What could weigh heaviest on many Asian American voters in this election are issues such as education and immigration policy, as many students and younger people come from Asian countries on work visas, often leaving the family behind while attempting to set up roots in America, said Rep. Hoon-Yung Hopgood, D-Taylor.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain supports unrestricted educational block grants, charter schools and vouchers, No Child Left Behind Act and teacher pay to be based on merit. He co-sponsored a bill that would have increased opportunities for undocumented immigrant students to attend higher education institutions.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama advocates doubling funding for charter schools, offering a $4,000 tax credit for people attending a public university and make college cheaper for people who engage in public service. He, like McCain, proposes merit-based pay for teachers.

Tyler Won, an MSU graduate student from South Korea, said he is deterred from applying for U.S. citizenship because he heard it takes a long time.

Won said he and many other people from his area in South Korea come to the U.S. for school because the education is better.

Hopgood said obtaining visas — and possibly American citizenship — to actualize the American dream has been difficult. He said he agrees with an immigration policy that accommodates students or workers who bring a special skill to an American economy that is becoming more service-based, but it’s not enough.

Both candidates support the continuance of the H1B visa lottery. McCain wants to expand and reform the program to make it suitable for market conditions, while Obama supports a temporary increase while making it easier for foreign students to remain in the U.S. after graduation.

“(There needs to be a change in) determining how some of the visa allocations are determined,” Hopgood said. “I think there are some issues with the processing of the system. You hear about long waits.”

Ben Chang, public speaker with the Asian Pacific American Student Organization, or APASO, said as an Asian American, “anything that affects minorities” is important.

Prenursing freshman Gina Yang agreed that education will be a deciding factor when she votes Nov. 4. Her parents moved to the U.S. from Laos to give Yang opportunities they didn’t have.

“Education is really, really, really important, just because my parents didn’t get the education they should have gotten here because they were born in a different country,” Yang said.

Avi Kotte, publicity chairperson for the Coalition of Indian Undergraduate Students, said he likely puts more time into schoolwork than most of his friends, which could be attributed to his upbringing.

“The most important thing was education,” he said. “That’s true for a lot of Asian families. We grew up knowing that studying was really important.”