tmaenadw t1_ix83l83 wrote
There is one aspect they don’t mention here, and that is international students. That enrollment has been dropping precariously with the pandemic and the explosion of gun violence in this country. We are not seen as a safe place to send your kids.
In recent years we have seen “expertise” come under attack. While it’s true that there is limited need for PhD candidates in literature and women’s studies, if these disappear, we will be the poorer for it. I say this as a STEM major (BS in Applied Mathematics), married to a research physician, with a daughter who is currently in PA working on her MD/PhD. Our other child is trying to get into the trades, and is currently working one of the referenced warehouse jobs. While it is true that colleges expanded beyond what they should have, a future driven by the enrollment of athletes in majors motivated only by potential salaries will be a sad place. I hope that Pennsylvanians will find a way to keep higher education access for those who want it, and not just those with deep pockets.
[deleted] t1_ix84n9m wrote
on point!
we are NOT seen as a safe place, plus we are expensive and colleges are no longer able to give as much aid to foreign students. they have been dependent on foreign students for at least a decade and them rethinking coming here is a huge issue.
I found the Vox article very interesting and liked how they did touch on how Olympic sports (like field hockey) are being used in enrollment management. Schools like Ship, York - there are TONS here in Pennsy - are absolutely using kids' desires to continue to play niche sports as a hook for enrollment. Whether or not this fits their mission I'm unsure of. I don't think it's necessarily bad, and probably helps young people to keep on track with their classes actually (since they can't party too much during their sport season).
Pennsylvania does have a problem. We just have too many schools here. A lot of them are lovely and I will be sad to see them go. But there's no way they can ALL stay in business, I don't think.
Calan_adan t1_ix8vrac wrote
Often those foreign students are full pay, which subsidizes the financial aid available for other students. Without those full-pay students, less financial aid is available.
wagsman t1_ix8yu53 wrote
I think the biggest factor in international students was Trump's immigration policy. He gutted the amount of Visas issued.
tmaenadw t1_ix8zqt9 wrote
Yes, and they are not choosing to come here because they won’t be able to get citizenship and stay.
This is bad news for a lot of things, but a lot of rural medicine is staffed by physicians who came here as students on visas.
timewellwasted5 t1_ix8tb8s wrote
>the explosion of gun violence in this country.
Do you have a source citing this as the reason for declining international enrollment, or are you just speculating?
tmaenadw t1_ix8z9ej wrote
Not speculating, I have read it in several articles. This one mentions it, along with the fact that our strict immigration requirements are driving students elsewhere.
We do have more gun violence than a lot of other countries, that’s just a fact, and when sending your kid away from home for school, impressions count as much as anything. (We are in the top 10 countries for gun deaths). America loves it’s guns, they are likely not going anywhere, and as a country we seem to idolize them above almost everything else.
timewellwasted5 t1_ix91u2h wrote
>We do have more gun violence than a lot of other countries, that’s just a fact,
I never refuted that. This was just the first I had heard of losing international students specifically due to gun violence.
tmaenadw t1_ix97uc6 wrote
I don’t think it’s the only factor, but combined with some others I do think it has an effect.
Beef5030 t1_ixbth8d wrote
Met my wife in the dorms, she was an international student. From my experiences and conversations the gun issue is a big one.
Immigration is also broken, we abandoned our K-1 (I-129F) since the processing times have only gotten longer. When we applied it was 10 months, now it's 15, if we kept our petition it would likely be 2 years till we could legally get married.
Every Immigration form is a depressing thread after another about people being separated for indefinite amounts of time, loss of jobs, missing funerals and life events. It's soul crushing to say the least. Pandemic and that evil orange bastards admin left LONG lasting impacts that will be felt for years. Loss of talent is an understatement, I'm a engineer and I left a cirital role due to this.
tmaenadw t1_ixg4oi7 wrote
I’m sorry it’s so difficult. It is long past time we should have fixed our immigration rules.
LowNo5584 t1_ixztz74 wrote
It's difficult for a reason. We're not going to let everyone come here. It's a merit based system. Otherwise this country's finite resources would completely implode.
[deleted] t1_ix9u8gx wrote
[deleted]
dancingprotein t1_ix9lk50 wrote
International students want to come here, but the h1b visa is such a headache that many are choosing to go elsewhere. If this is fixed most international students will still come here, adjusting to Europe is much harder for alot of (brown) immigrants.
Why would a student come here if there is no guarantee that they can stay beyond the 2-3 years that they are entitled to under OPT (part of the F-1 student visa)
heili t1_ixausmc wrote
H-1B isn't a student visa, it's a specialty occupation visa.
Are you referring to F-1 OPT students?
dancingprotein t1_ixaxw5z wrote
Most students who come here for a masters expects to work here for a while. With a student visa like an F-1 you can only work for a couple years after you graduate so they apply for a H1b via their employer. So what I mean is the H1b is incredibly difficult due to the lottery system and many people who actually deserve to be here basically have to pack up and leave after setting up their life here. This is a huge factor why international students are looking elsewhere
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