New year brings fewer international students to Pittsburgh's university campuses
The new year is starting at Pittsburgh's colleges and universities, but there will be fewer international students on campus.
The Trump administration has placed new restrictions on foreign admissions, and both the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University are seeing a decline in their number.
In many ways, they have become the financial lifeblood of Pittsburgh's universities. But this school year, faced with visa restrictions, intensive background checks and general fears about immigration policies, more international students from China and other countries are staying home.
"We are sending a message across the world to students who are looking for the best in higher education that the American door is closing or has closed, and they should look elsewhere," said Pitt law professor David Harris.
"It's definitely a concern for a lot of people," said CMU student Kevin.
Saying it wants to stop the export of critical knowledge to foreign adversaries, the Trump administration has tightened foreign admissions, especially at places like CMU with research into computer science and AI. American-born students now say those from overseas feel unwelcome.
"Even if they're really passionate about something that they want to do, it's definitely a deterrent for them because they don't want to get in trouble while they're just trying to do the things that they want to do," Kevin said.
Unlike American students, those from China and other places tend to pay full tuition and any reduction in their numbers hurts the bottom line of colleges and universities across the country.
International students make up about 10% of Pitt's enrollment, and while not providing data, in a statement, the university said, "We expect the number of international students to decline this year, which is not dissimilar to other peer institutions."
The impact is expected to be greater at Carnegie Mellon, where international students make up close to 40% of the student body. CMU declined comment, but in a letter to the CMU community, President Farnam Jahanian said the school needs to cut expenses by $33 million to make up for a drop in enrollment, especially in graduate school.
But in addition to the financial loss to the universities, a reduction of international students could hurt business districts like Squirrel Hill, whose restaurants and stores now cater to a young Asian population. And Harris says the region's tech economy will suffer from a lack of CMU- and Pitt- educated engineers and computer scientists.
"We need actually to have some of these students, not just get their education here but welcome them to stay because we're not producing enough of the jobs and educated people we need to maintain ourselves as a top economic world power. So this is just cutting off our noses to spite our faces," Harris said.
And both universities are also facing big reductions in federal research grants. Pitt in particular puts that number at $25 million, but both Pitt and CMU say they will weather the storm.