How much international students matter to the economy

0:01NPR

0:11This is The Indicator from Planet Money. I'm Darian Woods, and today I'm joined by business journalist Talib Visaram. Welcome. Thanks so much for having me. And today you're here to talk about international students. Right. As you know, since March, the Trump administration has been revoking visas from foreign students across the country, from the biggest state school systems to tiny community colleges. They started targeting students with perceived links to pro-Palestinian activism. It's since expanded to include some students with minor infractions with the law. Some universities are advising students not to travel out of the country because of issues some visa holders have had at the border.

0:52All of this is leading to panic among some foreign-born students who are now searching for escape routes, like Valentina Tarduño-Poleo. She's from Venezuela and is three years into a physics PhD at NYU. But she's relocating to Oxford University this summer. A PhD is a very long commitment. So I had this idea in my head, this is where I'm going to be for the next five, six, seven, who knows how many years. I got a cat. I was never planning on moving a cat to the UK. She's choosing essentially to self-deport. She feels it's best for her own safety, given the current climate. Other current and prospective students are also shopping elsewhere.

1:33So what happens if a new generation of bright-eyed scholars decide to forgo school in the U.S. and take their dollars elsewhere? Today on The Indicator, the economic impact of Trump's crackdown on international students.

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3:26At any given year, there are a million or so international students in the U.S. That's about 6 % of the higher ed student population. But last school year, they contributed$44 billion to the U.S. economy and created and supported close to 400 ,000 American jobs. International students coming into the country are considered an export. That's because they purchase an American service, education, and generate revenue for the U.S. with foreign currency. And the U.S. has a surplus in the sector because foreigners buy education at a much higher rate from the U.S. than vice versa. They're coming with loaded wallets because they have to prove they have the money to sustain themselves, usually without work or financial aid.

4:13So for a number of years, they're boosting local economies in all corners of the country. Barnett Sherman is a professor of multinational finance and trade at Boston University. I was looking at Mankato, Minnesota, 45 ,000 people south of Minneapolis. It hosts the Minnesota State University campus. They had about 1 ,700 international students calling Mankato their home. Those students brought$45 million into that community. Foreign students generally pay full whack on tuition and living expenses. And it turns out that New York University hosts the most. Its international student enrollment surged 250 % over the last decade.

4:56Tuition for a four-year degree there is around$260 ,000. These fees are a big source of income for colleges across the country. One recent estimate says it accounts for an average of 12 % of total tuition for public universities. It actually could be viewed to some degree as a subsidy to U.S. students. It's certainly a benefit to the schools because the enrollment has been declining in U.S. institutions for the last 10 years. It's down over 2 million students, U.S. domestic students. So the international student provides a great opportunity for schools to bolster up and improve their revenues and improve their course offerings.

5:36It's true. One study showed that some public schools used foreign recruitment to weather the 2008 recession. For several years, Michigan State University increased international enrollment by a factor of six. But now, that usually reliable source of funding might be in jeopardy. Just between January and March this year, interest in master's and PhD study in the U.S. dropped 38%. That's according to Study Portals, which gathers research about study programs around the world. The non-profit American Council on Education, or ACE, suggests that it may have something to do with Trump's policies. After he entered office, DHS and the State Department started singling out students speaking in favor of Palestinian rights.

6:22This was Marco Rubio back in March. Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visa. You're saying it could be more than 300 people? At some point, I hope we run out because we've gotten rid of all of them, but we're looking every day. That includes at least a few cases for crimes like drunk driving. But other reasons are even hazier. They're cancelling visas for years-old infractions like speeding, staying in parks after hours, and even catching more fish than is permitted with a fishing licence. After a ton of lawsuits, on April 25th, the Trump administration temporarily restored legal status for some students, saying it is working on a new policy for determining their legal right to study in the US.

7:05But it doesn't cover them all, and it doesn't eliminate uncertainty. Further, Immigration and Customs Enforcement explicitly said that it is actively formulating a new framework for terminations. They're not done with this. We reached out to the State Department, who told us that, along with the Department of Homeland Security, it enforces zero tolerance for aliens in the United States who violate our laws, threaten public safety, or in, quote, other situations where warranted. But this is all unsettling for students like Valentina. Quick note, for all intents and purposes, Valentina is an international student, but she's on Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, a category for people facing political unrest in their home countries.

7:50Trump tried to take Venezuelans off the list, and though the courts paused that, Valentina does not feel that her status here is safe. So she made the decision to leave. All of my friends are here. I have an apartment that I love, roommates that I love. My close family is all in the U.S. Once I leave, I'm probably not going to be allowed to come back for who knows how many years. As a PhD student in the sciences, Valentina does receive fellowship funding, so does not pay tuition. But she is contributing to the economy and is having her life uprooted nonetheless. She's glad she planned ahead with the move to Oxford University because she says she feels even more unsafe in the U.S.

8:29now after more than 200 Venezuelans with alleged but tenuous ties to gangs have been sent to the hellish Seacott prison in El Salvador. The plan is to leave in June, but I kind of have everything packed. So if at a moment's notice I had to leave, I'm ready to go whenever. Foreign students do have options. Most come from India and China, and those countries are growing their own education offerings. Canada, Australia and the UK are strong traditional alternatives and other super affordable options are attractive. There are a lot of US students that are looking abroad and saying, gee, why should I go into debt when I can go overseas and get a great education?

9:12Also, those foreign colleges aren't dealing with threatened freezes on funding if they don't bow down to the government's demands, which is happening in the US. For example, one of the many stipulations for releasing funds to Harvard is that it stops admitting international students hostile to the values inscribed in the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence, whatever that means. So overall, students are getting a raw deal for the massive checks they're writing. No guarantees on research funding, freedom of speech, or even being let into the country. For Valentina, starting a new chapter in the UK outweighed the hassles of staying.

9:51And there was one more thing I just had to ask her about that transatlantic cat move. Do you have two hours? So apparently the UK has no rabies. If you want to move a cat, you can't fly with it. You have to ship it like a package. And that's like 4 ,000 pounds or so. So a friend is going to fly my cat to Paris and then I'm going to drive from London to Paris, pick it up, go to Calais, take a ferry and then drive back. So I wouldn't recommend that. So it turns out moving where you study is a bit like herding cats. Who would have thought? So much hassle. Well, thanks so much for joining us, Dalib.

10:34Appreciate you having me here. By the way, tomorrow on the show, we're going to dig more into the brain drain, and not just from students, but also professors and scientists. We're seeing data that scientists and researchers appear to be fleeing overseas amid cuts to research grants and border issues. This episode was produced by Cooper Katz-McKim, with engineering by Jimmy Keely and Harry Paul. It was fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. Cake & Cannon is the show's editor, and The Indicator is a production of NPR.