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Number of foreign students studying in US drops

Source: The Boston Globe, 31/01/2018

New data show that the number of foreign students studying in the
United States has dropped for the first time in five years.
In the first year of Donald Trumpâ€™s presidency, the number of foreign
students studying in the United States dropped for the first time in
five years, according to new data released by the federal government,
a potentially troubling development for schools that have relied on
those studentsâ€™ hefty tuition payments to balance their budgets.
Experts have speculated that Trumpâ€™s anti-immigrant rhetoric during
the 2016 campaign and since taking office would dissuade students
from coming to the United States, but until now the evidence has been
only anecdotal.
Although several other factors likely contributed to the drop, the
December 2017 numbers released this month by the government are the
first to include freshmen who would have applied to college during
the 2016 election and enrolled during Trumpâ€™s first year in office.
Schools across the country, including many in New England, have
relied for years on full-tuition-paying foreign students in an era of
declining enrollment, with fewer Americans able to afford high
tuitions.
â€œIt could be that we are moving toward a bit of a perfect storm, not
in a good way,â€ said Ffiona Rees, board director of the National
Association for College Admission Counseling.
In recent years, the United States has begun to face increased
competition from other countries that have become more proactive
about recruiting top foreign students.
And there have always been factors about coming to the United States
that worry foreign students, such as gun violence, expensive tuition,
confusing applications, and limited post graduation work
opportunities.
The Trump administration might have been enough to finally push the
numbers in the other direction, Rees said.
Overall, there were 1.21 million international students in the United
States in December 2017, down from 1.23 million a year ago, according
to the Department of Homeland Security, which grants most
international student visas and keeps statistics.
Five years ago, there were 1.02 million, according to Homeland
Security.
The data include not just university students but also grade-school
students and those studying at vocational schools.
Homeland Security collects a snapshot of the number of foreign
students periodically during the year but not always in the same
months each year.
Between November 2016 and December 2017, there was a 1 percent drop
in the number of students from Asia, the continent that sends the
most foreign students to the United States, according to the data.
In November 2016, there were 948,000 students from Asia, compared to
936,000 a year later.
In Massachusetts, the number of foreign students did not drop, but it
increased at a slower rate than in the past.
There were 74,000 foreign students in the state in December, compared
to 72,000 in November 2016 and 70,000 the year before that.
The University of New Hampshire recently decided not to renew the
contracts of several teachers who taught English as a second
language, primarily to foreign students. The school said the staff
reductions were the result of a decrease in demand.
In California, the state with the most foreign students, the number
dropped by 6 percent, to 199,000.
Two years ago there were 210,000, according to the Homeland Security
data.
In Texas, the number of foreign students dropped 2 percent, and in
Illinois, 1 percent.
There are several other factors that could have contributed to this
decline, and it is so far unclear whether the new numbers are a blip
or the beginning of a long decline.
A Saudi Arabian government scholarship program ended, for example,
and the number of students coming from that country dropped by 13,000
in the past year.
The number of students from India, another country that sends many
students to the United States, rose by 3 percent.
A loss in foreign students could hurt the country economically, if
nothing else.
The Institute for International Education estimated that foreign
students contributed $2.7 billion to the Massachusetts economy last
year and $39 billion to the nation as a whole.
Over the past year, Trumpâ€™s policies have frustrated colleges and
others who work in the international recruitment industry.
Because of the administrationâ€™s travel ban for people from a select
group of Muslim countries, many foreign students say they are afraid
to travel home for breaks.
Others worry their country will be added to the list of banned
locations in the future.
Meanwhile, just to the north, Canada offers top schools at a much
cheaper price and has more welcoming immigration policies that
encourage students to settle there permanently.
â€œWhy should a nation shoot itself in the foot by projecting an anti-
immigrant posture?â€ said Jill Welch, the deputy executive director
for public policy at NAFSA: Association of International Educators, a
nonprofit that advocates on behalf of international education.
Rees, who is also the senior associate director for evaluation and
international admission at UCLA, said the plateau or drop in foreign
students will likely contribute to several divides happening within
the industry overall.
There is a growing separation between wealthy, elite schools with a
strong international reputation and ample funds to recruit, and those
with fewer resources and less name recognition.
A drop in foreign students will likely also affect red and blue
states differently, she said.
Schools in more liberal parts of the country that are perceived as
more welcoming to foreigners are likely to see less of a decline more
easily than those in more conservative pockets, she said.
â€œIt could be that we would divide the haves and the have-nots even
further,â€ Rees said.

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