Student dips in pocket for owed homestay fees

A Korean student who came to New Zealand to improve her job prospects by learning English has spoken of the trauma of being cast adrift in a foreign country after a Tauranga language school went bust.

Julie Kim was reduced to tears and battled waves of homesickness after learning that the nationwide Modern Age Institute of Learning had been placed in receivership and her pre-paid board had not been paid to her host family.

Modern Age also has campuses in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington.

Ms Kim left her husband in Seoul four months ago to come to New Zealand.

For the last few days, she has experienced a range of emotions while trying to salvage her education and find out what's happened to her $660 in board.

But the 30-year-old counts herself lucky. Fortunately, she had enough money to cover the shortfall and is paying her board directly.

She feels embarrassed, however, about the situation she has put her host family in.

The financial problems of Modern Age, which was placed in receivership on Friday, came as a surprise to Ms Kim, who discovered the company was in trouble only when her host mother told her last week.

She had no idea that $660 owed for her keep had not been paid, let alone that the last three weeks of the course she had also already paid for were to be cancelled.

Ms Kim was now looking at signing up with another language school - but that could mean joining a course halfway through and paying out more fees.

"I would like to learn," she said. "It has made me want to go home but when I came here I have to be a student so I have to stay."

- NZPA