How much international students matter to the economy

And today you're here to talk about international students, right?

They started targeting students with perceived links to pro Palestinian activism. It's since expanded to include some students with minor infractions with the law. Some universities are advising students not to travel out of the country because of issues some visa holders have had at the border.

A PhD is a very long commitment. So I had this idea in my head, this is where I'm going to be for the next five, six, seven, who knows how many years. I got a cat. I was never planning on moving a cat to the uk.

Other current and prospective students are also shopping elsewhere.

Today on the indicator the economic impact of Trump's crackdown on international students. At any given year there are a million or so international students in the US that's about 6% of the higher ed student population. But last school year they contributed $44 billion to the US economy and created and supported close to 400,000American jobs.

And the US has a surplus in the sector because foreigners buy education at a much higher rate from the US Than vice versa.

Foreign students generally pay full whack on tuition and living expenses. And it turns out that New York University hosts the most. Its International student enrollment surged 250% over the last decade. Tuition for a four year degree there is around $260,000. These fees are a big source of income for colleges across the country. One recent estimate says it accounts for an average of 12% of total tuition for public universities.

But now that usually reliable source of funding might be in jeopardy. Just between January and March this year, interest in master's and PhD study in the US dropped 3.38%. That's according to study Portals, which gathers research about study programs around the world.

You're saying it could be more than 300?

That includes at least a few cases for crimes like drunk driving. But other reasons are even hazier.

After a ton of lawsuits, on April 25, the Trump administration temporarily restored legal status for some students, saying it is working on a new policy for determining their legal right to study in the US but it doesn't cover them all and it doesn't eliminate uncertainty. Further, Immigration and Customs Enforcement explicitly said that it is actively formulating a new framework for terminations. They're not done with this. We reached out to the State Department who told us that along with the Department of Homeland Security, it enforces zero tolerance for aliens in the United States who violate our laws, threaten public safety, or in, quote, other situations where warranted but this is all unsettling for students like Valentina.

All of my friends are here. I have an apartment that I love, roommates that I love. My close family is all in the U.S. once I leave, I'm probably not going to be allowed to come back for who knows how many years.

the move to Oxford University, because she says she feels even more unsafe in the U.S. now, after more than 200 Venezuela with alleged but tenuous ties to gangs have been sent to the hellish Seacot prison in El Salvador.

The plan is to leave in June, but I kind of have everything packed, so if at a moment's notice I had to leave, I'm ready to go.

Also, those foreign colleges aren't dealing with threatened freezes on funding if they don't bow down to the government's demands, which is happening in the U.S. for example,

So overall, students are getting a raw deal for the massive checks they're writing. No guarantees on research funding, freedom of speech, or even being let into the country.

Do you have two hours? So, apparently the UK has no rabies. If you want to move a cat, you can't fly with it. You have to ship it like a package. And that's like £4,000 or so. So a friend is going to fly my cat to Paris, and then I'm going to drive from London to Paris, pick it up, go to Calais, take a ferry and then drive back. So I wouldn't recommend that.

So it turns out moving where you study is a bit like herding cats.

Well, thanks so much for joining us, Talib.

By the way, tomorrow on the show, we're going to dig more into the brain drain, and not just from students, but also professors and scientists. We're seeing data that scientists and researchers appear to be fleeing overseas amid cuts to research grants and border issues. This episode was produced by Cooper Katz McKim, with engineering by Jimmy Keeley and Harry Paul. It was fact checked by Sarah Juarez. Cake and Cannon is the show's editor. And and the Indicator is a production of NPR.