Colleges see significant drop in international students as fall semester begins

Summary

Classes began this week for students at the University at Buffalo, a public research university in western New York, but there were about 750 fewer international students on campus than expected.The new students who did make it gathered for a welcome from the school's dean of students. "We know you have had to overcome hurdles to be here – especially this summer, with visas," Tomás Aguirre told the assembled students, representing more than 100 countries. "And I just wanted you to know that we are so glad you were able to make it." Related Story: NPR The sentiment was common among the students, too. "For me, the main thing is that I got here," says Daria Tofan, a freshman from Romania, who didn't get her student visa until about a week before orientation. "It was awful."Over the last six months the Trump Administration has clamped down on international student visas, temporarily pausing and then revamping the student visa interview process and bringing more scrutiny to the vetting system. That led to long delays and meant many accepted students couldn't get appointments at embassies or consulates in time for the start of the fall semester."I only had one goal from the beginning, it was to go to college here, so if I didn't reach that goal it would have been very painful," explains Shivaka Sing, a freshman psychology major from New Delhi. When she got accepted to Buffalo she joined a group chat of other students from India. Many of them couldn't get a visa appointment in time to start the fall semester with her. "Most of them are now transferring to the U.K. because of the visa situation," she says. "Some are planning to defer to the spring semester."Fewer International students on campuses across the country this fallAt the University at Buffalo, the overall decline of about 15% of international students is happening mostly in graduate programs, especially in the STEM fields. But it's not just Buffalo. Universities all over the country are experiencing similar drops...