EXECUTIVE ORDERS PROJET: IMMIGRATION - Latest Trump Administration Actions May Affect Local Colleges and Universities

International students not only enrich universities' cultural and intellectual environment, they represent a more than $800 million boon for Virginia's economy.

By Martin Davis
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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Photo by Kyle Glenn on Unsplash

Harvard University may be drawing the attention for its legal battles with the Trump Administration, but a recent action now threatens incoming international students across the nation, and in Virginia.

According to a story first published by Politico, “The Trump administration is weighing requiring all foreign students applying to study in the United States to undergo social media vetting — a significant expansion of previous such efforts, according to a cable obtained by POLITICO.”

The cable sent to embassy officials states: “Effective immediately, in preparation for an expansion of required social media screening and vetting, consular sections should not add any additional student or exchange visitor (F, M, and J) visa appointment capacity until further guidance is issued.”

It is unclear how this decision may affect incoming international students at the University of Mary Washington this fall.

According to Amy Jessee, executive director of university communications for UMW, international students currently make up about 2% of the UMW population, “with 90 current students with visas as degree-seeking students or exchange students.”

Jessee reports that the university is “not aware of any student visas being impacted at this time.” However, she did say that UMW’s “Center for International Education continues to work with students on their educational plans, including any further guidance for incoming students scheduling their appointments this summer.”

International Students, University Climates, and Budgets

Often, international students are celebrated for the diversity and talent that they bring to the universities they attend.

Dr. Stephen Farnsworth, speaking for himself as a longtime UMW professor and director of the Center for Leadership and Media Studies, told the Advance that in his experience, “Students learn a lot about politics and culture from talking with each other in class and on campus about their own experiences and backgrounds. International students can add greatly to the richness of the college experience for everyone, both in the classroom and beyond.”

Beyond this enrichment, however, international students significantly impact universities’ bottom lines.

According to NAFSA, the association for international educators, international students have “minimal scholarship aid” available to them — most of which is set aside for graduate students. “Generally, U.S. institutions offer little, if any, discount on tuition, although both private and public institutions may waive application fees in some situations.”

This means international students generally are paying full freight to attend school in the United States.

At the University of Mary Washington, tuition is currently $28,810 per year for out-of-state students. International students do have access to some scholarship money. There are merit scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $9,000 per year. Students must live on-campus to be eligible, which adds thousands more to the cost of attending.

There is also a $4,000 Global Scholar award available for students enrolled on an F-1 visa (non-immigrant coming to the U.S. to study).

Nationwide, NAFSA reports that international students contribute $43.8 billion and more than 378,000 jobs to the U.S. economy.

Virginia ranks No. 16 on the list of dollars international students contribute to the state’s economy - $807.2 million. They also create 7,650 jobs.

The University of Virginia has just under 3,000 international students enrolled, according to December 2024 article in UVA Global. Chinese students are the largest cohort, but Indian students are now No. 2 and their number is growing in Charlottesville.

“For the 2023-24 academic year, UVA saw a rise in students from India, with 305 students arriving for the Fall 2023 through Summer 2024 terms, up from 280 students during the 2022-23 academic year. This figure grew to 416 students for the Fall 2024 term alone.”

The newly issued guidance on visas has the university offering the following advice to incoming students.

“The [State] Department indicated that the pause would likely be for only a few days, and that it would honor appointments that have already been made. If you have not yet obtained an appointment for a visa interview, please stand by for news about the resumption of appointment scheduling and seek an appointment as soon as you can at your nearest U.S. consular office.”

George Mason University has seen its population of international students grow sharply over the past decade. From IntoMason: “In 2014, Mason's international enrollment was 2,648 students. Since the partnership with INTO, Mason's international student enrollment has grown to 4,000+ students from over 130 countries.”

Virginia Tech is among the more-popular universities in America for international students. The school’s excellence in engineering and the sciences are a major draw. For 2024, the Cranwell International Center at VT placed the number of international students at just under 4,000, or about 10% of the student body.

Soft Power

The students who come to study in the United States bring more than money, of course. They return home and share American ideas and ideals with their home nations. A type of soft power that is increasingly being looked at askance. (For an interesting perspective, see this piece from 2024 by a young student in Massachusetts — “International Education as a Tool of Soft Power.”)

But some international students also choose to stay and enrich the country that they’ve adopted. The tech world is rich in such people.

Locally, we benefit as well.

Kevin Breen is but one example. He came to the United States in 1971 from Ireland to attend school at East Tennessee State University and run for the track team. He was part of the school’s “Irish Brigade,” which was considered one of the best running teams in the nation at the time. (See College Cross Country’s Irish Brigade for more information.)

Today, Breen lives in Fredericksburg and was the first franchise owner of a Coldwell Banker real estate brokerage firm in Virginia. After 48 years in the business, he still has an abiding thankfulness for the opportunities studying in the U.S. gave him.

“We brought a different mindset [to the university],” he told the Advance, “but coming to America opened so many opportunities.”

When you make that move, he said of students who decide to attend school in the U.S. for the right reasons, “you have to have something in your belly.”

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