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"Fewer foreigners at Oregon colleges"

The Oregonian
November 5, 2003
by Shelby Oppel

Fewer foreign students enrolled at Oregon's three largest universities this fall, a decline that educators attribute to tougher government scrutiny of visas, financial pressures and the perception by some that the United States is no longer a welcoming place.

At Portland State University, Oregon State University and the University of Oregon, the number of foreign undergraduate and graduate students declined to 3,414 this fall, down about 8 percent from a year ago. Those figures represent degree-seeking students and not those enrolled only in English language programs or noncredit courses. Those students often request shorter visits and don't have to prove they have the financial resources for a longer stay.

When fewer foreign students enroll, schools and the communities they serve suffer economic and cultural hits, university officials say. As state support for higher education declines, foreign students-who pay higher tuition and fees-are a key source of revenue.

At PSU, foreign students paid $4,557 in tuition and fees for 12 credit hours this fall quarter, compared with $1,426 for Oregon students.

Nationwide, campuses report a similar trend. The number of foreign students enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities showed little change between 2001 and 2002 after five years of steady growth, according to a report this week by the Institute of International Education. Altogether, 586,323 foreign students were enrolled in U.S. schools in the past academic year.

The institute estimates that foreign students added nearly $12 billion to the U.S. economy in the past academic year through tuition, living expenses and other spending. In Oregon, that translated to about $136 million.

Beyond the economic effect, foreign students help broaden U.S. students and provide a worldwide alumni network with implications for trade and cultural understanding, university officials say.

"It is absolutely impossible to prepare students for the future without giving them a sense of connection between different parts of the world," said Gil Latz, PSU's interim vice provost for international affairs. "These people ultimately are our best connections and ambassadors for the future."

As part of increased security after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, applicants for student visas must appear for interviews at U.S. embassies and consulates in their home countries. At PSU, students have reported long waiting lists for interviews. Others never arrive in the United States because they can't afford the trip from their hometowns to embassies and consulates in large cities.

Other students, particularly from the Middle East, have waited five months or longer to clear security checks and receive visas. Some have been denied visas for minor infractions, PSU officials say, such as a Middle Eastern applicant who told the university he was turned down because he had too many parking tickets, even though he had paid them.

Effect varies by campus Most foreign students at Oregon's three big universities are from India and the Pacific Rim. Nationally, the numbers arriving from many Muslim countries are down, but the effect of post-Sept. 11 security measures varies from campus to campus in Oregon.

At PSU, fewer students from Jordan and the United Arab Emirates enrolled this fall, but other Middle Eastern countries sent the same number or more students. At OSU, most Middle Eastern countries sent fewer students. Indonesia, home to the world's largest Muslim population, showed the most dramatic drop-off, from 200 students in 1995 to 59 students this fall.

Jinghui Li, 34, is a senior accounting major at PSU who hasn't been home since she left China in 1999. She is learning Western business principles that she couldn't learn in her own country, she said, and ultimately plans to return and start her own business.

Li is afraid if she leaves the United States to visit her parents, she won't be able to get back in when she applies for a new visa. She might have to leave anyway because she's spent her savings, and her U.S. sponsor is running out of money.

Even her parents, who wanted her to be a "traditional Chinese woman" and get married instead of going overseas to study, don't want her to jeopardize her accounting degree.

"Everybody tell me, don't go back," she said. "If I want to build my future, I have to have some foundation. My study at PSU is my foundation."

Other countries competing Tougher visa scrutiny isn't the only explanation for declining enrollment.

Officials at various schools speculate that the perceptions of a tougher U.S. visa policy and of an unwelcoming or unsafe environment are driving students away. Competing countries are picking up the business.

"We didn't get desperate calls from students at the last minute saying, 'I want to defer my admission because I can't get a visa,' " said Chris Sproul, director of the office of international education at OSU. "I think everybody who was planning to come got here."

At the same time, "we hear that Canada, Australia and other places are doing huge recruitment. . . . They seem to be opening their doors as we're closing ours," she said.

Private schools also have watched their numbers fall. "It's kind of like Job in the Bible," said Mark Wahlers, provost at Concordia University, referring to the series of calamities that befell the Old Testament figure. "The plague of war and the terrorists and the SARS. . ."

Concordia closed its English language program this year because of low enrollment, though the number of foreign graduate students rose this fall. The American Language Academy, which leased space at the University of Portland, shut down last month. And foreign students enrolled in Lewis & Clark College's intensive English language program dropped 30 percent since last fall.

Eric Kamweti, a senior from Nairobi, Kenya, found his passion at PSU: He wants to be a campus adviser to foreign students such as himself.

Jobs are scarce in Kenya, said Kamweti, 24. After high school, his mother told him he had to leave if he was going to have a future. On a trip home last year, relatives treated him like a changed man, and he wants other students to have the same experience.

"It was like I was an adult now, the advice that people were asking me. . . . I was so valued. That was a big change right there."

This file was updated on November 9, 2003