COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - The four campuses of the University of Missouri system have reported a drop in international student applications attributed to uncertainty about U.S. immigration and visa policies, and foreign students’ safety concerns, a university spokesman said.
The declines in applications range from 10 percent to 50 percent from this time last year, although officials on the Columbia campus refused to release specific numbers, The Columbia Daily Tribune reported (https://bit.ly/2o93C6W ).
Executive orders by President Donald Trump limiting entry from some Muslim-majority countries and worries about changes to visa programs are making international students reluctant to apply, University of Missouri spokesman Christian Basi wrote in an email. He said students are also scared about potential violence against foreigners, following the killing of an Indian man in a recent shooting in Olathe, Kansas.
Basi wrote that “many prospective students and their families have said that they do not feel safe coming to the United States.”
New system President Mun Choi has said one of his first initiatives is to increase revenue by attracting more international students. The push comes as the university faces reduced state support and severe budget shortfalls.
Applications from international students are down 10 percent from last year at Missouri-St. Louis, which currently has 523 international students, spokesman Bob Samples said.
At the Rolla campus, 1,083 international students make up a little more than 12 percent of the student body, which is a drop from about 1,300 a few years ago. Spokesman Andrew Careaga attributes the decline to lower international oil prices and the end of an exchange program with Sri Lanka. The school received 1,009 applications from international students this year, down 14.6 percent from the 1,182 received last year by this time, he said. The University of Missouri-Kansas City reported a decline of more than 50 percent from 1,225 in 2016 to 664 this year.
International students have made up about 6 percent of the Columbia student body in recent years. Without giving precise total, Basi said admission applications from graduate students are down 16 percent and that “we are very close to UMKC numbers on interests in applying” overall. He said the decline is expected to continue this fall.
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Information from: Columbia Daily Tribune, https://www.columbiatribune.com
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