Columnist Joaquin P. Roces mourns that though there are "close to a million Filipinos in the U.S. (TNT’s included, there are only 3,400 Filipinos enroled in American universities " (Malaya, Mar. 9).

Mr. Roces’ figure of 3,400 comes from Asiaweek which got it from the American Library figure grossly underestimates the number of people of Filipino parentage enrolled in American Universities.

To the American Library, a Filipino student is a holder of a Philippine passport who has entered the United States on either a student visa (I-20) or an exchange visitor’s (DSP-66) visa.

And so, Filipino students who are U.S. citizens or immigrants (green card-holders) are not counted by the American Library as "Filipino students." The children of TNT families are not about to admit their illegal status. If they do enroll, they misrepresent themselves as either citizens or immigrants and so, they are not counted as "Filipino students."

Finally, there are thousands of Filipino families with immigration cases pending. They cannot be deported during the pedency of their cases. The children of such families are not counted as "Filipino students" either.

RUBEN N. MUEGO