No Longer a Melting Pot
As college application season approaches, most high school seniors are anxiously finishing up their essays and gathering their high school transcripts, standardized test scores, letters of recommendation, and financial aid forms. However, some applications come with a few extra materials such as English proficiency test reports or perhaps-an application for a student visa. These applications come from international prospective students who wish to study at an American university.
Overseas students are willing to make the financial and personal sacrifices to receive an education from American universities, which often have more prestige and better research and job opportunities. Currently, the United States has one of the largest international student populations in the world, or 1 million students. But in a few years, this may no longer be the case.
Just this April, Trump signed the “Buy American, Hire American” executive order, which affects the H-1B visa program. As of now, the H-1B program gives 85,000 work visas to foreigners, such as foreign students trying to remain in the U.S. after graduation. The lucky 85,000 individuals are selected by a lottery of about 199,000 applicants. Fortunately, Trump’s executive order doesn’t have the power to change work visa programs. Instead, his order tells the Departments of Labor, Justice, Homeland Security and State to suggest changes to the current visa system, such as prioritizing skilled workers with high salaries. To overseas students, this means that potentially after a year of graduation, to be considered for a visa in the lottery, they must have a high salary of around $100,000. Realistically, that’s impossible to accomplish-or at the very least, extremely difficult to do.
Unsurprisingly, Trump’s anti-immigration stance has already affected the number of international college applications. According to a survey by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, nearly 40 percent out of 250 higher-education institutions have seen a drop in international applications.
“Apart from the financial costs of studying in America, I also had to take in consideration the increase of racism-motivated attacks and the added fear of being an immigrant under Trump regulations,” Mrudul Tummala, valedictorian and student council president of the Canadian International School in Singapore, told The Global Voice.
Furthermore, the Department of Homeland Security is considering a proposal to require annual (re)applications for international students to be able to stay in the United States. The DHS’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program allows university officials to endorse international students for a current one-time payment of $200, but if the proposal becomes a reality, foreign students would face an annual fee of $200 ($800 for the typical 4-year college experience) and more paperwork than was needed in previous years.
Not only are international students lamenting over their loss of esteemed American college degrees, so are the universities themselves. Universities enroll foreign students, who often cannot take advantage of most U.S. scholarships, because they usually pay full tuition. In 2015, international students paid over 35 billion dollars to American universities. It’s a lose-lose situation for both students and institutions.
America has had a rich history of being the “land of opportunity” and the “melting pot” to millions. It’s a shame that with one President, many American dreams of studying in the U.S. are being tossed aside.
