US loses billions of dollars as foreign students refuse to enrol

Reports have emerged that a continued decline in enrollment of international students in the United States since 2016 has cost the US economy $11.8 billion and more than 65,000 jobs.

This is according to estimates released by NAFSA: Association of International Educators, an international association of professional educators.

There’s a perception among international students that getting a visa for the United States is more difficult, and they increasingly feel unsafe in America, NAFSA survey data show.

“It’s not only the anti-immigrant rhetoric being expressed by this administration, there’s also increasing concern with regard to gun violence in this country,” said Banks. “There have been a number of shootings and that gets reported worldwide, and parents certainly take all of this into account when they are thinking about where they want to send their children to study.”

New international student enrollments declined by 0.9% during the 2018-2019 academic year, following a 6.6% decline in new enrollments in the year prior, according to the most recent US Department of State Open Doors report. This marks the first time the United States has seen a three-year decline.

However, the Trump Administration has a different narrative for the lower enrollments.

Deputy assistant secretary for academic programs at the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural affairs, Caroline Casagrande observed that International students are discouraged by the high cost of US schools.

She said, made “more efforts than ever in outreach to international students and to mitigate against the cost of education in the US.”

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