WASHINGTON (AP) – Thirty years ago, Harvard University foreign students accounted for just 11% of the total student population. Today they account for 26%.
Like other well-known US universities, Harvard has been earning that cash for years. Global cache We are recruiting the world’s best students. now, A booming international registration It left a university vulnerable to new attacks from President Donald Trump. The president began using his control over the country’s borders as a leverage in his fight to reform American higher education.
Trump’s The latest salvo Harvard uses extensive federal law to prohibit foreign students from entering the country and will attend the Cambridge, Massachusetts campus. His orders apply only to Harvard, but that Other universities His administration is targeting it as a breeding ground for liberalism that requires reform.
Rattling campuses under federal scrutiny Columbia Universityforeign students make up 40% of the campus. When the Trump administration tightened reviews on new student visas last week, a group of Columbia faculty and alumni raised concerns about the power of Trump’s gatekeeping.
“Colombia’s exposure to this ‘pen stroke’ risk is very high,” the Colombian Association wrote in its newsletter.
Ivy League schools are depicted widely by international students
According to data analysis from the education sector, people from other countries accounted for around 6% of all US college students in 2023, but 27% of eight Ivy League schools. Columbia was at its largest concentration, followed by Harvard and Cornell at about 25%. Brown University’s share was 20%.
Other highly selective private universities have seen similar trends, including Northeastern University and New York University. Each of them doubled their foreign registrations between 2013 and 2023. Growth at public universities is now more muted. Even in the 50 most selective public schools, foreign students make up about 11% of their students.
For decades, American universities have expanded their doors to foreign students, but since around 2008, numbers have been shot upwards. Chinese Students I came to a growing number of universities.
It was part of the “gold rush” of higher education, said William Brustin, who coordinated the international expansion of several universities.
“Whether you’re private or public, you had to come forward in that you can claim to be the most global university,” said Brantein, who led the effort at Ohio State and West Virginia University.
The race was driven in part by economics, he said. International students are usually not eligible for financial aid, and some schools pay two to three times the tuition fees charged to US students. The university was also focusing on global rankings that would give schools a boost if they recruited more foreign students and academics, he said.
However, expansion was not equal in all kinds of universities. Public universities often face pressure from state lawmakers to limit alien registration and leave more seats open to state residents. Private universities were not facing that pressure and many US students remained flat, so they actively recruited foreign students. The rates for university advancement among American students have remained largely unchanged for decades, with some people turning off at university due to rising costs and student debt loads.
Supporters say foreign students benefit the university – and the wider US economy
Advocates for the international exchange say foreign students have poured billions of dollars into the US economy, and many continue to support the country’s high-tech industry and other sectors that require skilled workers. Most international students study the main fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
In the Ivy League, most international growth was at the graduate level, with a more modest increase in faculty numbers. Foreign graduate students, along with five Columbia schools, account for more than half of Harvard Government and Design School students.
The Ivy League has largely managed to outperform other schools due to its reputation, Brustein said. He recalls his trip to China and India, where he talks with families where each Ivy League school can chant world ranking locations.
“It was the golden calves of these families. They really thought, ‘If we could enter these schools, we’d be on the easy streets for the rest of our lives,” he said.
Last week, Trump said he thought Harvard should keep its foreign students at around 15%.
“We have people who want to go to Harvard or other schools. We have foreign students so they can’t get in,” Trump said at a news conference.
The university called Trump’s latest action to ban entry into the country to attend Harvard University.
in Litigation Challenging the Trump administration’s previous attempt to block Harvard international students, the university said its foreign student population was the result of a “hard and decades-long project” to attract the most qualified international students. Losing access to student visas would quickly damage the school’s mission and reputation.
“In our interconnected global economy, schools say “universities that cannot welcome students from any corner of the world are at a competitive disadvantage.”
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