The road international students take to receive an education in the United States is a hard one — and it just got a little harder.

The Student Exchange Visitor Information System, a $36 million federal government program designed to screen international students, has encountered numerous computer glitches.

The federal government on Feb. 15 required all colleges and universities use a new computer system to track background information on all international students.

The system replaced an outdated U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service that was filled with errors and fraudulent data.

The Chicago Tribune (ITALICS) reported March 17, a student from Thailand, who attends Southeastern University in Washington, D.C, was arrested by Federal Agents because the database falsely listed her as having dropped out of school.

Many universities using the database have reported printing problems.

In many cases, international students have been unable to print important documents required to obtain their visas, hindering their travel plans.

Another problem some university officials encountered was the printing of documents, which would then turn up at another university, often thousands of miles away.

Although the system has encountered problems nation-wide, it has not had the same effect at Eastern.

International student adviser Sue Songer said the Division of International Programs has had some mild problems with the program, but nothing to the scale of what happened at Southeastern.

“A student who was in the program at another university transferred to Eastern before we were technically in the system,” Songer said. “Because there were different start dates for all universities, there were people in the cracks of those dates.”

Many students who are in the International Program have to visit screening stations, which are located in Chicago and Indianapolis.

“One student reported to me that they spent the entire day in the Chicago office,” Songer said. “Certain countries of citizenship are being required to be fingerprinted and photographed.

“Interestingly, it’s only males.”

Two Eastern students from the Middle Eastern country Oman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, gave a personal account of their experience at the Indianapolis station.

The students said they had to be interviewed, photographed and fingerprinted. Interviewers asked for their bank account numbers, social security numbers and numerous questions about their families, they said.

One of the two students went home recently, and he said he was required to visit the U.S. Embassy every day to check in.

Even though the program has had some initial glitches, Songer said she thinks the program is an improvement.

“I understand the need for the program, because the previous program was flawed,” she said. “As long as the United States will judiciously use the screening, I really support it. Students that are here for the right reasons and the right motivations, I believe, won’t be harmed by the system.”