Trump’s Immigration Rhetoric Is Already Impacting College Students

With weeks to go before President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House, colleges are shifting their guidance for students who could be impacted by the immigration restrictions he’s promised to enact.

Some schools have issued travel advisories to foreign students, urging them to return from international holiday travel before Trump’s second term begins. During his first time in office, the president-elect didn’t just try to stop illegal immigration – he also slowed and upended legal entry into the U.S., including for foreign visitors and students reliant on visas. In a late November message, Cornell University administrators predicted a travel ban is “likely to go into effect soon after inauguration” and called it a “good idea” for international students and staff to be back on U.S. soil before the start of their spring semester.

On another front, independent college counselors and advocacy groups say they’ve encountered a new wariness about applying for financial aid among students from mixed-status families (families whose members have different citizenship status). Despite the longstanding protections of federal privacy laws, some students and their parents have become more anxious about indicating on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, that their household members don’t have Social Security numbers – an indication to government officials that they could be undocumented.

“Although the Higher Education Act prohibits the use of data for any purpose other than determining and awarding federal financial assistance, we cannot assure you at this time that data submitted to (the U.S.) Department of Education as part of the FAFSA process will be protected,” the National College Attainment Network wrote in a recent message to its members.

The memo continued: “For some, the potential risks could now outweigh even the considerable benefits of federal student aid.”

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Those fears are based on a lot of conjecture, experts say. Significant barriers, including court challenges, would crop up if the Trump administration officials used FAFSA information for anything other than determining a family’s ability to pay for college.

Still, the ominous warnings from prominent universities and national advocacy groups speak to the widespread uncertainty about Trump’s post-election immigration plans, and when those potential changes could affect immigration-reliant industries. In 2022, immigrant-origin students accounted for roughly a third of all students enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities, according to the Presidents’ Alliance.

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International students come to the U.S. on visas, which are subject to specific restrictions. “F-1” is the typical visa issued to full-time international students. This designation permits them to enter and remain in the U.S. as long as they’re working to finish their academic program. Students on F-1 visas may leave the country but must show certain documents to government officials upon their return. If the visa stamp on their passport expires they must renew it to reenter the U.S.

Cornell’s guidance advised students and faculty to prepare for longer visa processing times and carry additional paperwork demonstrating their connections to the university when they pass through U.S. Customs and Border Protection checkpoints.

Yale University, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Wesleyan University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have issued similar warnings in recent weeks, recommending that students and faculty who intend to travel abroad over the holidays return to the U.S. by Jan. 20.

The anxieties come as a record number of international students are enrolled in U.S. colleges, according to recent estimates, a shift from the years of decline that predated the pandemic, which was further exacerbated by it. Data released last month from the Institute of International Education showed more than 1.1 million international students enrolled last year, a 7% jump from the previous year.

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