By Jeff Keith
As COVID-19 continues to hamper travel and the global economy, international student enrollment in the United States has plummeted. By the end of 2020, enrollment had dropped by an astounding 43%. It was a dramatic development in an era already marked by a steady decline: in 2017, the number of new international students enrolling at U.S. institutions fell for the first time in at least a decade. International student enrollment would continue to decline during each of the following years as the Trump administration embraced travel bans and restrictive immigration policies. These policy shifts not only made it more difficult for people from other countries to study in the United States but also signaled to the world’s best and brightest students that they weren’t wanted here.
Read the rest of Jeff’s feature on RealClear Education.