Macalester president: Federal immigration policy impacting international student enrollment

NINA MOINI: Across the country, international students are returning to a new normal on campuses as the Trump administration ramps up immigration enforcement efforts. And in part because of new restrictions on student visas and bans on citizens of certain countries traveling to the US, some students aren't returning to campus at all.

Modeling from the National Association of International Educators projects a 30% to 40% decline in new international student enrollment for this fall. The cost of this decline to Minnesota's economy is projected to be $77 million. Today is the first day of classes at Macalester College in St. Paul. I caught up with Macalester president Suzanne Rivera, and we talked about what she's been observing as students return to campus. Take a listen.

SUZANNE RIVERA: Macalester has a long standing and deep commitment to internationalism, so students coming from outside the US make up a high proportion of our student body, around 17%. There are 2,100 students, about, at Macalester, so in any given year, between 80 and maybe 110 of those students will be international students. Currently, our student body represents 106 different countries. They really come from all over the world.

Unlike other colleges and universities in the US, we meet the full financial need of any admitted student, and we do that for our international students as well as our domestic students. So we're not just recruiting from four or five very high resource countries around the world, we're recruiting from the entire globe, and we're making financial aid available to students who need it. So we really have every day people from more than 100 countries on our campus, which we think really enriches the educational experience for everyone.

NINA MOINI: Some of the projections that I was mentioning at the top, President Rivera, is that something that you are seeing at Macalester? How are you seeing enrollment impacted, if in any way, this fall?

SUZANNE RIVERA: Well, there's no doubt that the shifts in federal policy that have made it more challenging for international students to get access to the US higher ed market are having an effect. We're really delighted that 90 international students are beginning at Macalester this fall. But we know it was more arduous for them to get here than it has been in years past.

And there were some students who we admitted who initially accepted a spot at Macalester in the spring and then over the summer decided not to come specifically because they felt that challenges in securing a student visa or fears about being able to go home in the summer and then reenter the country would just make it too difficult. And so they changed their plans and decided not to come after all.

Luckily for us, the melt or the decline in enrollment of our international students was only a few this summer, but the fact that any student at all would change their mind and decide not to come because of fears that they wouldn't be able to enter the country or travel freely has been really disappointing for us. These are all really talented students who would have brought their gifts not only to our campus, but to the United States and to our economy.

And we think it's a shame that anyone would be deciding to not come because they're afraid to continue their education here. We're delighted that the 90 who are joining us are here. We've worked really hard all summer to assist them with their visa applications and interviews and all the paperwork necessary to come. We even allowed some of them to arrive early so that they could get situated here without concerns about the possibility of being declined at the borders when they arrived in the US.

NINA MOINI: And now that those 90 international students are here, and you say you've helped them to settle in, what types of concerns are they sharing with you about the rest of the year and what may be to come?

SUZANNE RIVERA: Well, I think the fact that the federal policy shifts are somewhat unpredictable has caused anxiety, because people who are here legally, now under duly authorized visas, worry that perhaps those visas could be canceled without their knowledge or without much notice, and that would put them in a kind of jeopardy where they might be accused of overstaying a visa that they weren't even aware had been suspended or canceled.

We also know that students are anxious about whether they can travel home to see relatives over the winter break or over the summer, because they fear they might not be allowed to be let back in to continue for next year. And I think there's a general concern about an anti-immigrant sentiment that they've heard about that makes them worried about whether they would be accepted in the US.

Now, Macalester is a campus that really emphasizes the importance of global citizenship, and this is a really warm and welcoming community. But, I mean, I think they may have concerns more generally about whether the US is a hospitable place for students coming from outside the country. We did everything we could last spring to prepare our returning students so that they wouldn't be so worried. We told them if they wanted to stay with us over the summer rather than risk going home and being prevented from re-entering the US, that we would allow them to stay on campus.

And we successfully mounted a fundraising campaign with our alumni to raise the money necessary to offer free housing, food, and small stipends so that we could encourage those students to go out and volunteer at non-profits in the community since their visas significantly restricted their ability to seek paid employment in the US over the summer.

NINA MOINI: And that's what I was going to ask you about is just the cost of providing additional services, and perhaps the cost to your college of not having some of the students come. It sounds like you're going to alumni. You're fundraising. Are there any other avenues you're exploring to be able to make up for students who may decide not to come or to support those who are here?

SUZANNE RIVERA: With regard to revenue, we're worried about a couple of things. One is just when students don't come, obviously, that means that we need to reassess our budget and make sure that it is still appropriate for the amount of tuition revenue that's coming in in the upcoming year. But there are other kind of secondary concerns that happen because of the fear of people coming to the US.

We have to think about whether we're able to recruit the top faculty in their fields, because there might be international faculty who might be worried about coming also, or who might not be able to get visas to work here legally. And then, of course, many of our employees and students want to travel internationally to do research or to present findings at international conferences.

And if they're worried about being stopped at the border, or they're worried about whether their visa will be honored, it really has a chilling effect through the entire higher ed sector, because people are just unsure. They're anxious. They're worried about whether they'll be safe and secure, which is an incredible shame, because the US higher ed system really is a crown jewel.

It's respected all around the world. And part of the reason for that is that for decades, it has been a point of pride that our colleges and universities attract the brightest and most talented students from all around the world, regardless of what country they come from, bring them together to live and learn together on our campuses. And the idea that might be diminished or restricted in some way, I think, is going to have many unintended consequences that we're going to feel in a lasting kind of way.

NINA MOINI: And to your point, I understand you also serve on the board for the Association of American Colleges and Universities. Last spring, we were hearing reports of ICE officials, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, showing up, detaining students at or near their apartments. Not exactly on campus, but adjacent to campuses.

As you're talking with other college and higher education leaders, how are you viewing the role of colleges and universities as it relates to what is happening to some of these international students, even if it's not directly on campus? Is anyone working on a best practices of how or where colleges and universities should be involved? How are you viewing that?

SUZANNE RIVERA: Well, I think any college or university that admits a significant number of students who come from outside the US will have some experts and service providers on the campus who can offer support to those students, both with regard to logistical concerns, like having a duly authorized visa and understanding what that permits and what it doesn't allow.

But also, we've been thinking about, in a broader way, the public purpose of higher education to not only contribute to a vibrant workforce and economy, but also a pluralistic society in which different viewpoints, different experiences, are celebrated and where people are encouraged to share their perspectives.

And when you see federal policies that appear to be restricting who can study at which institutions, where they can go, whether they can move freely without fear of being detained or being deported, we worry that that is going to have an effect on the quality of education we can provide at our institutions.

So many college and university leaders are working together to share best practices about how to support our international students at the campus level, but also how to influence federal policy around international education and immigration, because we know that being able to attract students from all different walks of life makes a more vibrant higher education sector, which in turn strengthens our economy and our democracy.

NINA MOINI: President Rivera, thank you very much for coming by and sharing your perspective. We hope you'll keep us posted as the semester gets rolling here.

SUZANNE RIVERA: Thank you so much, Nina.

NINA MOINI: That was Suzanne Rivera, the president of Macalester College in St. Paul.