I think you are being a bit hysterical. I agree that an exception should be made during the pandemic, but I do not think we will be irreparably harmed by international students staying home for 6 mos or a year. Plus, if it were so dire, they could try to study at a university that had FTC or hybrid classes. Bring students from everywhere. Great. But if they can’t come for a year, we will deal. To state gloom and doom for America over one year of a lost university time is sort of extreme. It makes people go against you.
The ever growing number of full pay foreign students has been one of the drugs that has enabled the monster of sky high tuitions…out of control hiring of administrators, feverish construction projects, upscale, hotel like accommodations and questionable course topics and majors are all symptoms of how schools have lost their way…the loss of foreign student money, at least for the COVID times, will break this cycle and force a deserved and necessary reset and in the end, hopefully, a return to sanity and a more practical approach to learning and less emphasis on accoutrements…
What constitutes questionable course topics/majors? How is that driven by international students (who typically come to the US to major in STEM fields)?
The loss of international students will mean less available financial aid for low income US students and increased tuition.
Your post just feels like scapegoating @Hotrin .
I do think international students add to the culture of a university and is generally a good thing. Universities obviously want the students and not just for the money. Many foreign students receive scholarships and are recruited for athletic teams.
That doesn’t change the fact that there are rules that go with the visas and the international students agreed to those when they applied for the visa. One was to take classes in person, which is the reason they need a visa in the first place. No need to be in the US, no need for the visa.
I’m not buying the argument that there is no internet in China or India.
Since you have asked me this question directly, I will respond. Your question;
“No one knows why an international student was admitted over an American student with the same test scores and GPA except for that university’s admissions officers. Has it ever occurred to you that maybe, just maybe, your child just simply isn’t who that university is looking for? Doesn’t mean they aren’t qualified.”
My response;
There’s lots of data that demonstrate why foreign students are admitted in the numbers they are…and it’s not all about altruism…think green.
http://graphics.wsj.com/international-students/
I appreciate your passion on the subject…as upsetting as my thoughts may be to you, that’s what university is about…the free and open exchange of ideas and opinions…I commend you for jumping into to this thread and stating yours.
@Happytimes2001 some kids have celiac (including one of mine). Gluten free foods are a necessary accommodation, not a frill 
You are assuming that the full pay tuition of the foreign student is a dollar for dollar exchange that goes directly to the financial aid of the low income American student…they are apples and bowling balls…that money is spent on many things…salaries, construction, athletics, administrative costs even fancy balls…careful, they monitor ad hominem on here.
I’m sure they can file a complaint quickly but they don’t have the smarts to see any of this coming?
If I’m a business (universities) I’m looking ahead to ensure my revenue streams. The law has been established for some time that international students can’t be completely online and stay in the US. If I’m even remotely thinking about an online semester in the fall I’m being proactive with the government and anyone necessary to ensure that my customers can stay. That would be towards the top of the list because you’re not concerned too much about on-campus health safety at that point if you’re online.
Yes, an extension was granted in the spring but was there ever any follow-up? Any end-dates? Universities can’t plead ignorance. They have a lot of smart people on the payroll. They knew the law. They knew that the spring extension was finite at some point. It doesn’t seem like they offered any guidance or tried to get out in-front of the issue by working on a fall solution with Immigration. They’re not blameless in all of this…and don’t think they aren’t more than happy to make this a political issue as well.
Personally, I think they should grant a one year extension and move on. Unfortunately there will be a lot of back and forth.
Is it necessary for the sake of the spirit of the law to force students to return to their home countries if their school has to pivot to online as they all did in the spring?
Suppose one of those students is a TA for your student’s course, now sent home. And your student cannot get access to the overwhelmed professor who now has 180 students clamoring for help because the TA’s are gone. Tough nuts, everyone has to suffer, so your kid does too?
Most Ivies figured this out and brought grad students back in person promptly. Really, there is no excuse for not having done so
You don’t make laws, rules, whatever based on what if were your kid…that’s called chaos…you make rules for the interests of the greater good…we live in a world with rules…some find that hard to accept…
My daughter went to a school that is 1/3 international. That school is reopening and having all students back. Grad students, undergrad, whoever can get there.
Schools have to make the decision that is best for its students.
TAs can teach remotely. ICE isn’t telling schools they have to disenroll their international students, just that if classes are online the students can’t be in the US. They can still be a Harvard student from Paris or HongKong or Mexico City.
USC announced today that they will have classes available for their international students that fulfill the visa regulations.
ETA: the announcement is by uscprovost on Twitter. I don’t see any news stories yet
What greater good would you be serving by sending students home mid-semester?
The rules for this program were made some time ago…I’m confident there were good reasons for crafting them as such…when and if COVID calms down, perhaps they can return…there will be spots opening up for American kids now…that pleases me immensely…not for my own, but for others that will now have a shot at their dream school in America…the world deals us blessings and tribulations, this is but one that young people will face in their lives and they will adjust…it’s not like these foreign students are starving refugees returning to war torn countries…sometimes adults are the ones that take things harder,
The greater good is that you live in a country with rules and laws. Not a banana republic. If you don’t like the law that’s fine. Change it, but do it properly and until it changes it should be followed. You can’t just enforce laws or not enforce them because it “doesn’t feel right” or fits your beliefs.
Both the schools and ICE should’ve had this worked out already. I highly doubt this came out of the blue. Too many smart people who know the laws. In fact, I bet the schools filing the complaint had many law school grads who wrote the immigration laws.
Wasn’t the Spring ruling supposed to be in effect till the Pandemic was over, though?
Nothing in the original rules said anything about “if the college switches to all online due to a worldwide pandemic then everyone has to leave on the next jetliner”. That’s an addition, with little or no apparent appeal to any greater good.
If it serves the greater good to do that now, then it did in March as well, and they were WRONG to make an exception then. Of course, if you believe that would have opened up beaucoup slots for American students this fall, then you agree that it was wrong not to send all them furners home on March 13. Or even to let them be here in the first place.
Where in the original “rules and laws” does it say you have to return home if your college goes online in the middle of a pandemic?