Here's how dependent each UC campus is on international students

San Francisco Chronicle​

3 days ago

With tens of thousands of students from other countries studying at University of California campuses, UC officials say they are 'very concerned' about President Donald Trump's targeting of international enrollment, which could put a dent in colleges' budgets, slow research and harm the state economy.
On Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the Trump administration will 'aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students.' Also this week, Trump paused new student visa interviews, and he dangled the idea of a 15% cap on international enrollment.
About 41,000 international students study at UC's 10 campuses, about 13% of systemwide enrollment. Nearly a third of UC graduate students, 31%, are from another country, while 9% of undergraduates are from outside the U.S. China accounts for the greatest share of international students at UC by far — 43%.


'Our international students and scholars are vital members of our university community and contribute greatly to our research, teaching, patient care and public service mission,' the university said in a statement.
Officials at major private universities in California expressed concern as well. At Stanford, where ratios of international students are similar to UC's, President Jonathan Levin said it was 'self-defeating to send away young people with so much potential to contribute to the country.'
A spokesperson for Caltech, where international students include 14% of undergraduates and 47% of graduate students, credited 'foreign talent' with helping American innovators develop 'extraordinary new advances,' from AI, to smartphones, personal computing and sequencing the human genome.
Trump's actions 'undermine the stability of our country's research, education and innovation enterprise, a system that has ensured U.S. leadership and global competitiveness in the advancement of science, the development of new technologies and the prosperity of our communities,' said Caltech spokesperson Shayna Chabner.
The Trump administration's efforts to reduce the presence of international students is part of an 'America first' policy, Rubio said, adding that the restrictions will focus especially on students 'with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.'
He did not say how the administration would determine which students have connections with the Chinese government or what fields are considered critical.
But the crackdown is already causing deep concern among international students and those hoping to study in the U.S.
Roughly 1.1 million international students study at U.S. universities — 6.6% of college students, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's ' Study in the States ' webpage. International enrollment increased by a record 7% last year, according to the Open Doors report cited by the department.
International students don't qualify for federal student aid, so the vast majority pay full tuition. That's a lucrative source of revenue for many universities, especially UC campuses, where taxpayers and the university help subsidize the tuition of state residents. Nonresidents pay three times the in-state rate. But the research university system says it also depends upon foreign students for a robust exchange of ideas — academic and cultural.
'The University of California is very concerned about the U.S. State Department's action to pause new interview appointments for applicants for student and exchange visas and the direct impact it will have on our international students, scholars and faculty,' UC officials said through a spokesperson.
Sharply reducing the flow of international students is Trump's latest attempt to wrest control of American universities, which he and his allies see as centers of liberal bias. Last year's widespread campus protests against the war in Gaza helped to fuel a claim of systemic antisemitism on campuses. His administration is investigating numerous universities, including UC campuses, seeking evidence to bolster that idea.
Trump has also unsuccessfully tried to revoke existing student visas. A Bay Area federal judge blocked that effort last week.
Trump has aimed much of his ire at Harvard — including by trying to block new international students from enrolling there — after Harvard's President Alan Garber rebuffed his attempt to take over decision-making powers there last month. Harvard sued twice and won a temporary restraining order. On Thursday, a federal judge extended the order.
Now Trump has turned the effort to campuses everywhere. At the White House on Wednesday, he said that American students 'can't get in' to universities 'because we have foreign students there' that take their slots, Bloomberg reported. Trump then suggested that international students should be capped at 15%.
'How did he come up with that number?' asked Shaun Harper, a professor at the University of Southern California's Rossier School of Education.
As for international students crowding out U.S. students, 'if that were a problem, I certainly would know,' said Harper, a past president of the Association for the Study of Higher Education. 'It's only suddenly a big problem because Donald Trump has declared it so, as part of his larger war on Harvard University.'
Citing college enrollment numbers at the U.S. Department of Education's data site, Harper noted that Harvard's enrollment of foreign students sits at 14% of undergraduates, while schools typically enroll a smaller ratio than that, including UC Berkeley's 12%. At Stanford, 16% of undergraduates are international students.
John Aubrey Douglass, senior research fellow at UC Berkeley's Center for Studies in Higher Education, called the halt on international students 'shortsighted and vindictive.'
'We are witnessing an unraveling of a century of a partnership between the federal government and universities and colleges that helped build the world's premier mass higher education system built in part on attracting talent internationally,' he said.

In 2017, UC imposed a cap on undergraduate non-state residents, including international students, as it faced a backlash by students and lawmakers who said the university was admitting increasing numbers of nonresidents — who pay full price — at the expense of many Californians.
Douglass said this is how the process is supposed to work.
'Let the states decide,' he said. 'And allow independent private schools to make their own enrollment decisions.'
On Wednesday, the nonprofit Presidents' Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration said that international students contributed nearly $44 billion to the U.S. economy last year, and supported over 378,000 jobs.
The new crackdown on international students is part of a 'growing climate of fear, volatility, and uncertainty' in the country, the group said in a statement, as it urged the Trump administration to reverse its decision.