Mounting uncertainty regarding international students’ visas
Mount Holyoke College faculty and administrators spoke to Bloomberg about how the federal government’s recent actions might affect international students and campus life.
As tensions escalate over the federal government’s behavior toward international students, Mount Holyoke College faculty and administrators spoke to business and financial news service Bloomberg about the situation’s potential impact on those students and on campus life.
The Trump administration has paused international students’ visa interviews, significantly delayed their visas, attempted to completely stop visa processing for Harvard University and imposed a limited travel ban on people coming from 12 countries.
Mount Holyoke has admitted international students since the 1840s. Currently, about 140 first-year international students are set to start in the fall, and about 50 of them already have visas. Forty-five percent of the incoming first-year international students will receive financial aid.
“The potential loss of [international] students due to visa restrictions would not only reduce revenue, but more importantly, it would diminish the fabric of our campus community,” Mount Holyoke Vice President for Enrollment Management Robin Randall told Bloomberg.
The length of the pause in visa interviews could affect whether new international students can enroll by the fall, Carol Hoffmann Collins Director of the McCulloch Center for Global Initiatives and Ruth Lawson Professor of Politics Kavita Khory said in the article.
“This is the time when students are going for their visa appointments around the world,” Khory said. “It’s hard to predict what we’re going to be up against next.”
