Declining Trend of Foreign Students in the U.S. is Significantly Affecting the Economy

Fewer foreign students are going to the United States of America to study and it is negatively affecting the country's schools and its economy.

Schools are currently watching and monitoring this declining trend.

According to the forecasts of NAFSA--a global organization of professional educators--the declining trend of the enrollment of foreign students in United States' school and universities, which began in the fall season of 2016, has resulted in the US economy losing 11.8 billion dollars and approximately 65,000 jobs to American citizens.

"There are many variables, but largely it's been the policies and rhetoric from the current administration that's really driven the numbers to move in that direction," said Director Rachel Banks of NAFSA's Public Policy.

According to the results of the survey conducted by NAFSA, there is a perception among foreign students that acquiring a visa to study in the United States of America is a difficult task. Another reason for the decrease of foreign students in US is that they reportedly feel unsafe in the country.

"It's not only the anti-immigrant rhetoric being expressed by this administration, but there's also increasing concern with regard to gun violence in this country. There's 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," said Director Rachel Banks of NAFSA's Public Policy.

According to the Open Doors Report of the United States Department of State, the current foreign student enrollment total has decreased by 0.9 percent from the 2018 to 2019 academic years. This had followed a 6.6 percent fall in the total number of new enrollees in the previous year. This is the first time for the United States of America to experience a significant decline trend in three consecutive years.

According to Caroline Casagrande, foreign students in US are problematic at the high cost of studying in the schools of the United States. Caroline Casagrande is the deputy assistant secretary for academic programs at the United States Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural affairs.

According to a statement released by Casagrande during a phone call interview with reporters, Trump's administration had increased its efforts to reach out to foreign students and to help them with the cost of education in the United States of America.

The declining trend of the total number of foreign students in US is financially hurting the universities of the country. At California State University-Northridge, the decline of the total foreign students enrolled in the school from the year 2016 to 2019 has resulted in a loss of 26 percent income which is approximately 6.5 million dollars in the monetary figure.

According to NAFSA, for every 7 foreign students, 3 United States jobs are made and/or supported by US sectors in spending such as accommodation, food, retail, higher education, and transportation.

According to the new report issued by NAFSA, more than a million foreign students enrolled at United States schools are contributing approximately 41 billion dollars to the United States economy. This can help provide 458,290 jobs for US citizens for the school year 2018 to 2019 alone.