Fredrik Ackander is a junior soccer player at Dalton State College. The 2019 conference soccer scholar-athlete of the year is from Vasteras, Sweden. He first came to the United States three years ago and played his first two seasons at Andrew College in southwest Georgia before transferring to Dalton.
Before the coronavirus shut everything down, Ackander had a deal in place for the summer to play with the Chattanooga Red Wolves. Once everything shut down, flight prices skyrocketed above $2,000, so Ackander was stuck on campus while many of his teammates and classmates headed home.
“I was also afraid of going home because I didn’t know if I’d be able to come back,” Ackander said.
Now, the federal government says if college classes are online-only in the fall, Ackander and thousands of other international students will be forced to go back home.
“It’s the craziest thing,” Ackander said. “If I stayed here the whole time, they would find me and they would deport me.”