Imbalanced Admissions To US Colleges & Universities

Foreigners Returning to U.S. Schools

More foreigners applied to U.S. graduate schools for fall classes this year than last, reversing two years of declines caused by visa delays attributable to increased post-Sept. 11 security, a new report says.

The number of overseas applicants who sought U.S. graduate degrees this year shot up 11 percent. The number of overseas applicants had edged down 5 percent last year and plunged 28 percent the year before that.

But only 49,184 foreign graduate students began programs in U.S. universities in 2004, according to the most recent data available.

That is a drop of more than 14 percent from 2001, according to Stuart Heiser, a spokesman for the D.C.-based Council of Graduate Schools.

"That is a problem," he said. "Obviously, if there are fewer students, there is less revenue, less research going on, and less of a chance of a significant breakthrough or innovation."

Heiser said the nonprofit group of 450 U.S. and Canadian graduate schools did not collect applicant data before 2003.

In addition to visa delays after the 2001 attacks, the drop in enrollees also reflected increased competition for graduate students from other countries, notably India and China, he added.

Both the U.S. economy and its graduate schools owe some of their strength to overseas students -- especially if they find jobs or create them at research-driven firms near their alma maters.

Sixty-eight percent of graduating PhD students say they will stay or intend to do so, Heiser said, citing a separate 2004 study by the National Science Foundation.

Jay Halfond, a dean at Boston University, said the university needs the foreign students.

"Generally, they are full-time, full-paying students and generally are very high-quality, so the bottom line academically is very positive as well," he said.

The number of foreigners seeking advanced engineering degrees shot up 17 percent this year while life sciences chalked up a 16 percent rise, the council said. In contrast, business programs only drew 7 percent more applicants.

India contributed the biggest increase in overseas applicants, with a 23 percent rise, followed by China, which saw a 21 percent gain. The ranks of Middle Eastern candidates grew 4 percent, and those from Korea rose 3 percent.

Somebody has to take notice of some dynamics here. While the number of foreign students enrolling into US college or university graduate programs is on the rise, often on full scholarships from their home country, the number of US citizens being denied grants and financing to make it through undergraduate levels of higher education are being cut by the Bush administration and the Republican-dominated congress. There are practically no full scholarships available to most US citizens for graduate school, and most Americans attending college or graduate school engage in debt that sooner or later becomes a problem to manage.

Additionally, let us look at another problem with our immigration, border and national security issues. The students coming here to study our technology and our society are coming from 1) India where our jobs, technology and intellectual resources are running to produce, invent and prosper; 2) China where we have major international and military issues; 3) Middle Eastern nations, most of which are in some form of disagreement with the US; and 4) Korea, presumably South Korea, where we have spent millions of defense dollars for over 50 years only to be told that they want to reunite with their communists friends from the North.

Now I do not want this post to boil down to an us versus them diatribe. All I am pointing out is that there is an imbalance in our thinking, process and policy. We are not supporting our own students, but we are allowing foreign nations and foreign nationals to come, study and take away the basis for our greatness. While foreign students should be allowed to study in American Universities and Colleges, there should be a level playing field and our immigration policies for foreign students ought to reflect the realities of the relationship issues we are having with these countries. We should be promoting student enrollment from our own rank and file of citizenry first, and students from those nations that are within our "circle of friends" second, and then students from nations that are outside of the realm of human rights, peaceful participation in the international community, and in a balanced economic equation with our own interests.

We have tons of talented engineers, teachers, nurses, and other vocations that would benefit from attending graduate school--and would bring back benefits to our municipalities, businesses, schools and government--but cannot find the financial and/or ancillary support to attend graduate school. Other nations have a national exam that results in financial support for those students that demonstrate achievement and ability to pass the exam. Still, many of the oil-rich Middle Eastern states will pay for undergraduate and graduate degree programs as a matter of policy for any of its citizens. There is an imbalance here... and it does not stem from "them" (the foreign nations or foreign students), but from within our own borders, our own governmental policies and the colleges and universities that live and breathe on the financial aid that comes into their coffers... and yet, the best of our graduate programs (as pointed out in the article) cannot wait to get those foreign enrollments and make accommodations for foreign students, many having "AHANA" and foreign student counseling programs.

Let us muck up our system a little bit more...