Why the U.S. needs international students – Trumps Administration scraps new visa order for many foreign students

Last week, Trump gave a very clear-headed message for all the international students in the U.S, saying that they wouldn’t allow students to stay in the country for the autumn semester if all their classes had moved online due to coronavirus pandemic. That means they have to leave the country if they were unable to transfer to a college offering some in-person instructions. 

There were a lot of discussions about why the U.S. has decided to take such actions. Some people contest that it is their tactic to pressurize colleges and universities to reopen. While others believe that it might be a way to limit the international students in the country. Irrespective of why it’s happening, issues will be faced by around 1.2 billion students over 8,700 colleges over the country. 

Now, most people think that foreign students crowd out domestic applicants. Domestic students will have very few seats to contend with. Well, it does make sense. However, this is not true. Instead, foreign students increase domestic enrollment and even pay higher tuition fees. These extra funds help to subsidize the cost to enroll more domestic students and some times they even make up with the lack of state funding. 

The July 6 move by the U.S. administration disturbed many schools and universities that were making plans for the fall semester and the desire to return to the classes, as to balance concerns about the rise in the cases of coronavirus. Colleges town rely on these kids to make money. There are around 200,000 Indian students who are in the United States right now. It was estimated that they contributed about $8 billion in the U.S. economy last year. Apart from their contribution to economies and education, the presence of international students harbors the collaboration across borders. This helps students to develop tolerance, gain a different perspective, and learn from each other.

And Probably, this is the reason why various universities and colleges filed a lawsuit challenging the rule, including Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dozens of companies such as Google and Facebook have joined, with colleges and universities filed ‘friend-of-the-court’ brief to combatant the rule. The lawsuit alleged that these new rules will lead to significant economic harm by precluding thousands of international students to come and reside in the country. This will impact employment and their contribution to the overall economy.

While Harvard has decided to hold all its online classes for another academic year. Donald Trump said that not to hold-in personal classes is a ridiculous decision of Harvard and pushing schools and universities to reopen for their autumn sessions. The universities argued that these measures will adversely affect their academic institutions. 

In the court hearing on Tuesday, the case brought Harvard, Massachusetts, Google, and other IT companies, came to a settlement that would roll back the new rules and restore the previous status quo.

And, Finally, the Trump administration took a U-turn on the policy measures of July 6.

California Attorney General Xavier Beccera, filed a separate lawsuit on the visa rules, claiming that Trump’s arbitrary actions can put the lives of students and communities at risk. 

Adding that, “In between the economic and public health crisis, the federal government alarming Americans and others to not waste everyone’s time and resources with dangerous policy decisions.”