Fewer foreign students opting for US

Changes to visa and immigration policies blamed for the decline

WASHINGTON - The number of international students entering US colleges and universities has fallen for the second year in a row, a nonprofit group said on Tuesday, amid efforts by the government to tighten restrictions on foreigners studying in the United States.

New enrollments for the 2017-18 school year slumped 6.6 percent compared with the previous year, according to an annual survey released by the Institute of International Education. That follows a 3.3 percent decline in new international students tallied in the 2016-17 academic year.

Several factors are driving the decrease. Visa and immigration policy changes by the US government have deterred some international students from enrolling, college administrators and immigration analysts said.

A strong dollar has made US college tuition relatively more expensive, Canadian and European universities are competing fiercely for the same students and headlines about mass shootings also may have deterred some students, said Allan Goodman, president of IIE.

"Everything matters, from safety, to cost, to perhaps perceptions of visa policy," Goodman said. "We're not hearing that students feel they can't come here. We're hearing that they have choices. We're hearing that there's competition from other countries."

International students have become an important funding source for US colleges as traditional revenue sources, such as state funding, come under pressure. Most undergraduate foreign students do not qualify for need-based financial aid and must pay close to full tuition and fees to attend US schools.

Similar to previous years, the largest numbers of students came from China, India and South Korea, which together made up 56.1 percent of all international students.

IIE did not track new international student numbers before the 2004-05 school year, but Goodman said the recent declines in new enrollments were comparable to the period after the Sept 11, 2001 attacks. The annual survey of foreign-student enrollment is funded by the US State Department.

Political climate

Some immigration policy experts and college administrators attribute the decline to the US government's drive to restrict immigration and an overall sense of a US political climate that is hostile to immigrants and foreigners.

"It is not a welcoming environment," said Doug Rand, a former White House official working on immigration issues during Obama's presidency.

He noted that Trump has moved to restrict the issuance of skilled-worker visas and permanent residency, which many incoming students may apply for in the future.

"It's an act of willful ignorance to suggest that our immigration policies aren't having a direct impact on foreign student enrollment," Rand said.

Caroline Casagrande, a State Department official, said the "flattening" in international student enrollments began with the 2015-2016 year, prior to the start of Trump's presidency. That year, new enrollments still increased by 2.4 percent compared with the prior year.

"The US Department of State is committed to facilitating the legitimate travel to the United States of individuals who want to study in US academic institutions," Casagrande said during a phone call with reporters. "It's quite frankly unwarranted to say that it is completely the result of a political environment."

Cary Jensen, assistant vice provost for international advocacy and engagement at the University of Rochester in New York, said international students had been receiving more scrutiny from the US government since the Sept 11 attacks, but that "this last year and a half has just taken it to another level".

REUTERS