International Student Decline Strains U.S. Colleges in Trump Era
A drastic drop in international student enrollment under the Trump administration is squeezing American colleges and universities, forcing them to make budget cuts and faculty changes.
The once-bustling international student population at Lewis University has dwindled in recent years, forcing the school to make difficult decisions. Zheng Zhou, a professor at the Illinois-based institution, has watched as some of his colleagues have departed amid the declining enrollment of foreign students.
This trend is playing out at colleges and universities across the United States, as the Trump administration's restrictive immigration policies and the global pandemic have driven down the number of international students studying in America. The plummeting enrollment is squeezing school budgets and leading to faculty layoffs, course cancellations and other changes that are reshaping higher education.
At Lewis University, administrators had to make tough choices after international student enrollment dropped by around 30% between 2016 and 2020. The school hired additional professors like Zhou to teach the influx of global learners, but now some of those hires have left as the student population shrinks.
{{IMAGE_PLACEHOLDER}}Source: The New York Times
