Latest news with #COLLINBINKLEY
Japan Today
a day ago
- Business
- Japan Today
Top U.S. universities raced to become global campuses. Under Trump, it's becoming a liability
By COLLIN BINKLEY Three decades ago, foreign students at Harvard University accounted for just 11% of the total student body. Today, they account for 26%. Like other prestigious U.S. universities, Harvard for years has been cashing in on its global cache to recruit the world's best students. Now, the booming international enrollment has left colleges vulnerable to a new line of attack from President Donald Trump. The president has begun to use his control over the nation's borders as leverage in his fight to reshape American higher education. Trump's latest salvo against Harvard uses a broad federal law to bar foreign students from entering the country to attend the campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His order applies only to Harvard, but it poses a threat to other universities his administration has targeted as hotbeds of liberalism in need of reform. It's rattling campuses under federal scrutiny, including Columbia University, where foreign students make up 40% of the campus. As the Trump administration stepped up reviews of new student visas last week, a group of Columbia faculty and alumni raised concerns over Trump's gatekeeping powers. 'Columbia's exposure to this 'stroke of pen' risk is uniquely high,' the Stand Columbia Society wrote in a newsletter. People from other countries made up about 6% of all college students in the U.S. in 2023, but they accounted for 27% of the eight schools in the Ivy League, according to an Associated Press analysis of Education Department data. Columbia's 40% was the largest concentration, followed by Harvard and Cornell at about 25%. Brown University had the smallest share at 20%. Other highly selective private universities have seen similar trends, including at Northeastern University and New York University, which each saw foreign enrollment double between 2013 and 2023. Growth at public universities has been more muted. Even at the 50 most selective public schools, foreign students account for about 11% of the student body. America's universities have been widening their doors to foreign students for decades, but the numbers shot upward starting around 2008, as Chinese students came to U.S. universities in rising numbers. It was part of a 'gold rush' in higher education, said William Brustein, who orchestrated the international expansion of several universities. 'Whether you were private or you were public, you had to be out in front in terms of being able to claim you were the most global university," said Brustein, who led efforts at Ohio State University and West Virginia University. The race was driven in part by economics, he said. Foreign students typically aren't eligible for financial aid, and at some schools they pay two or three times the tuition rate charged to U.S. students. Colleges also were eyeing global rankings that gave schools a boost if they recruited larger numbers of foreign students and scholars, he said. But the expansion wasn't equal across all types of colleges — public universities often face pressure from state lawmakers to limit foreign enrollment and keep more seats open for state residents. Private universities don't face that pressure, and many aggressively recruited foreign students as their numbers of U.S. students stayed flat. The college-going rate among American students has changed little for decades, and some have been turned off on college by the rising costs and student debt loads. Proponents of international exchange say foreign students pour billions of dollars into the U.S. economy, and many go on to support the nation's tech industry and other fields in need of skilled workers. Most international students study the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and math. In the Ivy League, most international growth has been at the graduate level, while undergraduate numbers have seen more modest increases. Foreign graduate students make up more than half the students at Harvard's government and design schools, along with five of Columbia's schools. The Ivy League has been able to outpace other schools in large part because of its reputation, Brustein said. He recalls trips to China and India, where he spoke with families that could recite where each Ivy League school sat in world rankings. 'That was the golden calf for these families. They really thought, 'If we could just get into these schools, the rest of our lives would be on easy street,'' he said. Last week, Trump said he thought Harvard should cap its foreign students to about 15%. 'We have people who want to go to Harvard and other schools, they can't get in because we have foreign students there,' Trump said at a news conference. The university called Trump's latest action banning entry into the country to attend Harvard 'yet another illegal retaliatory step taken by the Administration in violation of Harvard's First Amendment rights.' In a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's previous attempt to block international students at Harvard, the university said its foreign student population was the result of 'a painstaking, decades-long project' to attract the most qualified international students. Losing access to student visas would immediately harm the school's mission and reputation, it said. 'In our interconnected global economy," the school said, 'a university that cannot welcome students from all corners of the world is at a competitive disadvantage.' © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Japan Today
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Japan Today
Harvard has long been the world's top college. Trump's sanction puts its allure at risk
By COLLIN BINKLEY and MICHAEL CASEY For students around the world, an acceptance letter to Harvard University has represented the pinnacle of achievement, offering a spot among the elite at a campus that produces Nobel Prize winners, captains of industry and global leaders. That allure is now in jeopardy. In its intensifying fight with the White House, Harvard was dealt its heaviest blow yet on Thursday, when the government blocked the Ivy League school from enrolling foreign students. The move threatens to undermine Harvard's stature, revenue and appeal among top scholars globally. Even more than the government's $2.6 billion in research cuts, the administration's action represents an existential threat for Harvard. The school summed it up in a lawsuit seeking to block the action: 'Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard.' Within hours of the decision, the consequences started becoming clear. Belgium's Princess Elisabeth, who just finished her first year in a Harvard graduate program, is waiting to find out if she can return next year, the palace said. The Chinese government publicly questioned whether Harvard's international standing will endure. 'The relevant actions by the U.S. side will only damage its own image and international credibility,' Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a briefing in Beijing. A federal judge on Friday blocked the administration's decision as the lawsuit plays out, but the order is only temporary. On the Harvard campus, international students said they were stunned, confused and deeply concerned about what the government's action means for their degrees, future plans and legal status in the United States. Walid Akef, a Harvard graduate student in art history from Egypt, said the Trump administration action would cost him '20 years of my life.' 'Coming to Harvard — I'm not exaggerating — I planned for it for 15 years," Akef said. He earned two master's degrees and learned multiple languages before arriving at the university. He also worries what the changes will mean for his family, since his wife is pregnant and will soon be unable to travel. 'This is absolutely disastrous. I'm going to lose not just stability, but I also lose my dreams and then lose, I don't know, my beautiful life.' Akef is cautiously optimistic that Harvard "will take care of this,' but he is also considering other options as U.S. policy becomes increasingly inhospitable to foreign students. A graduating law student from Asia said he had planned to stay in the United States and find work, 'but not anymore.' 'I don't know what I'll do, but my future doesn't appear to be here,' said the student, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation. With a $53 billion endowment, Harvard can weather federal funding losses that would cripple other institutions. But this new sanction strikes at the heart of its campus. Already, the change is causing disarray, as thousands of students consider whether to transfer or risk being in the country illegally. It could wipe out a quarter of the university's student body, while halving some of its graduate schools and threatening students who work as researchers and teaching assistants. Some sports teams would be left nearly empty. For many, it has been a time of panicked calls home and huddles with fellow international students. For Kat, a data science student from China, the news comes as she prepares to graduate. Foreigners set to receive degrees from Harvard next week can still do so. 'My biggest fear is whether I would get deported immediately" after graduation, Kat said. She spoke on the condition that she be identified only by her first name out of concern about retaliation. "We're not sure about our status.' If the government's action stands, Harvard would be banned from admitting new international students for at least two school years. Even if it regains its place as a global magnet, top students may shy away for fear of future government reprisals, the school said in its lawsuit. The university enrolls almost 6,800 foreign students at its campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, near Boston. Roughly 30% of those come from India and China. Asked if he was considering restrictions on other universities, President Donald Trump said Friday: 'We're taking a look at a lot of things.' 'Harvard's going to have to change its ways. So are some others,' the president told reporters in the Oval Office. 'We don't want troublemakers here' from other countries. In its court filing, Harvard listed some of its most notable alumni who enrolled as foreign students. The list includes Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister of Pakistan; Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the former president of Liberia; Empress Masako of Japan; and many leaders of major corporations. Many of the world's top students spend years preparing for their college applications, sometimes working with admissions consultants such as Crimson Education, a company named after Harvard's school color. Crimson clients recently admitted to Harvard were shocked by the government's action, said Jamie Beaton, a Harvard alumnus from New Zealand who founded the company. But rather than looking for other options, many students quickly shifted to finding a way forward with Harvard, he said. Still, some current students and those bound for the university in the fall were weighing other opportunities. Two universities in Hong Kong on Friday extended invites to affected students. 'It feels like my world has exploded,' said Fang, a Chinese student who was accepted to Harvard for a master's program. She also spoke on the condition that only her first name be used out of fear that she could be targeted. Her student visa was approved just this week. 'If America becomes a country that doesn't welcome me, I don't want to go there.' The recent developments forced Aleksandra Conevska, a Canadian graduate student researching climate change, to cancel her summer research and briefly look for jobs in Canada. But her thinking has since shifted, and she says she plans to remain at Harvard. 'I've already invested in this country, and I'm not going to give in," she said. The U.S. government's action against Harvard has dominated news in countries around the world, said Mike Henniger, president and CEO of Illume Student Advisory Services, which helps colleges in the U.S., Canada and Europe recruit international students. He is traveling in Japan and awoke to the news Friday with dozens of emails from colleagues. The reactions from the international community, he said, were incredulous: ''Unbelievable!' 'Oh My God!' 'Unreal!'" For incoming freshmen who just got accepted to Harvard — and already committed — the timing could not be worse, but they are such strong students that any top university would want to offer them a spot, he said. 'The bigger story is the students around the country that aren't a Harvard student, the students that scraped by to get into a state university and are thinking: 'Are we next?'' he said. "The Harvard kids are going to be OK. It's more about the damage to the American education brand. The view of the U.S. being a less welcoming place for international students.' Associated Press writers Annie Ma and Fu Ting in Washington, Jocelyn Gecker in San Francisco and Bianca Vázquez Toness in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and researcher Shihuan Chen in Beijing, also contributed to this report. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Japan Today
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Japan Today
Trump administration cuts $1 billion in school mental health grants, citing conflict of priorities
FILE - The U.S. Department of Education building is seen in Washington, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File) By COLLIN BINKLEY The Trump administration is moving to cancel $1 billion in school mental health grants, saying they reflect the priorities of the previous administration. Grant recipients were notified Tuesday that the funding will not be continued after this year. A gun violence bill signed by Democratic President Joe Biden in 2022 sent $1 billion to the grant programs to help schools hire more psychologists, counselors and other mental health workers. A new notice said an Education Department review of the programs found they violated the purpose of civil rights law, conflicted with the department's policy of prioritizing merit and fairness, and amounted to an inappropriate use of federal money. The cuts were made public in a social media post from conservative strategist Christopher Rufo, who claimed the money was used to advance 'left-wing racialism and discrimination.' He posted excerpts from several grant documents setting goals to hire certain numbers of nonwhite counselors or pursue other diversity, equity and inclusion policies. 'No more slush fund for activists under the guise of mental health,' Rufo wrote. The Education Department confirmed the cuts. In an update to members of Congress that was obtained by The Associated Press, department officials said the Republican administration will find other ways to support mental health. 'The Department plans to re-envision and re-compete its mental health program funds to more effectively support students' behavioral health needs,' according to the notice. President Donald Trump's administration has cut billions of dollars in federal grants deemed to be related to DEI and has threatened to cut billions more from schools and colleges over diversity practices. The administration says any policy that treats people differently because of their race amounts to discrimination, and it argues that DEI has often been used to discriminate against white and Asian American students. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
