Dive Brief:
- At least two high-profile colleges — the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Wesleyan University — have advised international students to return to campus for the spring term before President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration day.
- Trump, who will be sworn into office on Jan. 20, spent much of his first term advocating to weaken the visa programs on which international students rely. Some policy experts expect similar upheaval during his second.
- Several other institutions with high international enrollment — including Yale University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and New York University — have sent guidance to international students about how to prepare for the transition or are bolstering resources for them.
Dive Insight:
Trump restricted U.S. visa programs and international travel during his first White House term. Just days after taking office in 2017, for example, he signed an executive order only days after taking office in 2017 that temporarily banned entry to the U.S. of residents from several Muslim-majority countries. The order blocked some students and academics from returning to their studies in the U.S., though courts quickly struck down the first version of the policy.
Trump campaigned on bringing back the travel ban in the lead up to the election. Now, some colleges are bracing for this and other policy shifts — and are warning their students to do the same.
UMass Amherst's Office of Global Affairs urged its international students to return to the U.S. before Jan. 20 "given that a new presidential administration can enact new policies on their first day in office" and based on the first Trump administration's history of travel bans.
International students made up 13% of the university's student body in fall 2022, according to federal data.
Undergraduate international students living on-campus will be allowed to return early if necessary and are advised to contact residential life, the office said.
The office, which also directed its message to international faculty and other employees, said it was issuing guidance "out of an abundance of caution" to help avoid potential travel disruption.
"Please note that this is not a requirement or mandate from UMass, nor is it based on any current U.S. government policy or recommendation," it said. "We are not able to speculate on what a travel ban will look like if enacted, nor can we speculate on what particular countries or regions of the world may or may not be affected."
Wesleyan's Office of International Student Affairs advised students studying under the F-1 visa to plan their return to campus around the inauguration, according to The Wesleyan Argus, a student-led newspaper.
"The safest way to avoid difficulty re-entering the country is to be physically present in the U.S. on January 19th and the days thereafter of the spring semester,” the office said in an email, citing the "uncertainties around President-elect Donald Trump’s plans for immigration-related policy."
In fall 2022, international students made up 11% of Wesleyan’s enrollment, according to federal data.
The university’s leadership has also expressed concerns for the university's undocumented students amid Trump's promises of mass deportations.
"Wesleyan will remain committed to principles of non-discrimination, including equal protection under the law, regardless of national origin or citizenship," President Michael Roth said in a blog post the day after the election. "The University will not voluntarily assist in any efforts by the federal government to deport our students, faculty or staff solely because of their citizenship status."
MIT, where international students made up 30% of fall 2022 enrollment, noted that the transition to a new administration can affect staffing at U.S. embassies abroad, which in turn could impact entry visa processing times.
The university’s International Students Office organized an information session earlier this month for international students hosted by an immigration attorney to help address questions.
David Elwell, associate dean and director of the office, said international students should assess their travel plans in light of the election but should not over-focus on conjecture.
"Avoid making decisions based on social media and news reports or rumors that predict new policies/regulations," Elwell said. “As past experience has illustrated, not everything that has been talked about during an election will be implemented.”
Instead, students should rely on official documentation from the appropriate governmental sources, he said.
However, Trump’s messaging on visa and immigration policies has been inconsistent.
On the campaign trail this year, Trump said international students who graduate from U.S. colleges should automatically get green cards to stay in the country. However, his campaign quickly walked back his statement and added strict qualifiers to the proposal.
The pattern of flip-flopping extends back to Trump's first White House term.
In one instance, his administration moved to deport international students enrolled solely in online classes at the start of the pandemic. However, the White House and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reversed the policy following backlash and lawsuits, including one led by MIT.
Trump’s approach to visa and immigration policies may have prompted international students to look elsewhere for their education.
In the first three years of his administration, 12% fewer foreign students studied in the U.S. compared to the country’s top international enrollment competitors, according to peer-reviewed research.
Losing these students can deal a major blow to colleges. International students often serve an outsized role in higher education, especially at tuition-dependent institutions, where they are more likely to pay a college’s full sticker price than U.S. students.
The 2023-24 academic year saw a record-breaking number of international students, according to the annual Open Doors report. More than 1.1 million international students studied in the U.S, making up 6% of the sector's total student population.
