international students – The Hilltop Monitor

A New World of Higher Education: What Trump’s Policies Mean for Colleges and Students

Matthew Parker — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 16:59:42 +0000

Photo by Andrew Butler on Unsplash.

The return of Donald Trump to the White House after his victory in the 2024 Presidential election has altered nearly every aspect of American policy, and the world of higher education is in no way immune from these changes. Trump’s public fights with the Ivy League and other elite colleges have taken most of the media attention, but colleges across the nation have experienced their own share of changes, as have the students attending them.

Admissions, Affirmative Action and International Students

Since his inauguration earlier this year, Trump has focused heavily on reforming a college system that his administration argues is financially bloated and biased against white applicants. Much of the administration’s reforms have focused on eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, particularly surrounding affirmative action, which was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2023.

The administration argues that colleges have continued to apply affirmative action, primarily through proxy measures such as personal statements, in making acceptance decisions, and Trump has released a barrage of executive orders on that subject. Last month Trump signed a new order that forces colleges to share data about their applicant pools and acceptances, giving the Department of Education power to investigate these alleged proxies.

The Department of Education, meanwhile, had threatened to cut federal funding to institutions that it claims engaged in race-based decision making, though these threats have been caught up in court. These latest orders follow an immediate effort within the opening days of the second Trump presidency to eliminate DEI resources and initiatives from the Department of Education’s website, as well as directing the various branches of government to identify and investigate colleges, corporations and foundations with DEI initiatives.

The administration has also attempted to restrict international students, both in the numbers that can be admitted and in the length of time they can remain. Trump’s attacks against international students have so far targeted individual schools, such as his suspension of visas for students studying at Harvard or his requirement that Columbia “decrease financial dependence on international student enrollment”. However, the administration has begun to move from changing the rules for individual schools to changing the rules for all international students.

One recent memo from the Department of Homeland Security proposes to restrict student visas to a duration of four years. At present, student visas have “duration of status,” which permits students to remain in the country while they continue to make progress towards a degree. Critics argue that restricting student visas to a four-year term will prevent international students from completing a bachelor’s degree program if they require time beyond the standard 4-year plan and will limit their ability to participate in doctoral programs that frequently last five years or more.

Student Loan Changes

While the Trump administration’s policy has influenced admissions policy and diversity initiatives across higher education, changes to student loans and financial aid will most directly impact students. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) has implemented a series of restrictions on federal borrowing. Parent PLUS loans, which typically helped cover the gap between student loan limits and the rising cost of college, have been capped, maxing out at $20,000 annually and $65,000 total per student. When combined with the $7,500 annual limit for undergraduate federal loans, that limits families to $27,500 per year in federal loans. With the average annual cost of undergraduate education reaching $38,270, these federal loan caps will leave students with, on average, over 10 thousand dollars still to cover, either out of their own pockets, through scholarships or through the private loan market.

For those seeking a graduate education, the OBBBA has eliminated Graduate PLUS loans and added additional caps to federal borrowing. Graduate students are now only permitted to take out a maximum of $20,500 per year, while professional students (those in medical school, law school, and other similar programs providing training for a specific job) can take out a maximum of $50,000 per year. With the average annual tuition cost of medical school at $59,605 and the average tuition cost of a masters’ degree being $62,820 over two years, graduate students will likewise need to find approximately ten thousand dollars in additional funding to cover the cost of their degrees.

The OBBBA has also reduced the variety of loan repayment options. Previously, federal loans provided multiple income-driven repayment options to help lower-income students pay back their loans, and President Biden expanded that list by signing the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan into law last year. However, the OBBBA replaces these plans with the new Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP), which now becomes the only alternative to a standard fixed-payment plan.

The RAP has a minimum monthly payment of $10 (SAVE had no minimum monthly payment), has a term length of 30 years (SAVE had a 20-year term, or 25 years for graduate loans) and begins counting its income percentage immediately (SAVE ignored the first $35,000 of income). This collectively means that a borrower making $40,000 annually would see their monthly payment increase from $40 under the SAVE plan to $132 under the new plan. RAP does, however, provide substantial discounts for those with dependent children, and is generally a less expensive plan for those with higher incomes.

In short, the OBBBA has reduced both the scale of federal loans and the variety of repayment plans that exist for both undergraduate and graduate education. In the immediate future, more students will have to seek alternate sources of funding, whether those be private loans or additional external financial aid/scholarships. The decline in international students, who typically pay higher tuition prices, will make the scholarship budgets even tighter at many institutions. It’s unclear just how many students will be forced to reconsider their educational plans because of these changes, but the tradeoffs of higher education will certainly become more relevant than ever in the coming years.

International students deported after problems with visas

Brett Stone — Sat, 13 Feb 2016 02:45:51 +0000

Adriana Rodriguez, junior recreation and sport major, vividly remembers the day when she was told she had a week to leave the country, or else she’d be deported.

“It was a Tuesday morning and I get an email saying that I have an illegal status in the United States and I have to go back home as soon as possible, which meant within a week. I was not allowed to be enrolled in [William Jewell College]. It was Oct. 28, 2014. Admissions didn’t know I was not allowed to be enrolled in the school. They told me I had to withdraw all of my classes within a week, and that I wasn’t allowed to go anywhere,” Rodriguez said.

This is what happened.

When an international student is applying for an American visa, they have to follow a series of steps. This process can be confusing, and there are abundant opportunities for miscommunication.

To use Jewell as an example, once an international student is accepted, the Admissions Department—specifically Admissions Counsellor Jason Groves—will send the student a document called the I-20 form. On this form, the student verifies certain things such as their admittance, their ability to pay for the program and English proficiency.

Students also pay what is called a “SEVIS Fee,” which is $200 for international students. SEVIS is a database that monitors international students attending American institutions.

There’s another form called “DS 160,” and linked is a sample of what that might look like. The purpose of this form is, essentially, to apply for an interview with the embassy. If the form is accepted, and the information checks out, the embassy will contact the student to set up an interview.

What happens next is the student goes to the American embassy in that country, which in the case of Rodriguez is the embassy in Madrid. Students must appear in person. For the interview, they have to bring their I-20 form, passport, a receipt showing that they paid the SEVIS fee, their letter of acceptance to Jewell and documentation from their bank to confirm that they have the funds necessary to attend.

After all this, a student can still be declined for a visa. The interview process with a consular officer can get personal, not to mention the cost: the application for a student visa is $160. These fees add up.

There is so much more information, hoops, hurdles to jump through, but this is a general synopsis of what it takes for an international student to apply for a student visa to attend an American institution.

What is important to note is that an international student must have a student visa in order to attend college in the States. There really isn’t another way around it.

Back to Rodriguez.

Rodriguez had a tourist visa initially to tour colleges in the United States. She has family in Seattle, so she was visiting them as well. She knew that, to go to school here, she’d have to go back to Spain to change her tourist visa to a student visa. But when she was accepted into Jewell and came to campus in late August of 2014, she was advised that that wasn’t necessary

“I knew I had to go back [to Spain], but then [Jewell] contacted me and told me there was a new rule, and I didn’t really have to go back to my country to apply for the student visa,” Rodriguez said.

This is a new process, and Rodriguez didn’t want to pay for a plane ticket back to Spain unnecessarily, so she went along with it.

“People back in Spain from the embassy told me, ‘No, you do have to come back.’ But since somebody from the school here told me that it was okay, I trusted them. We were waiting for the visa for a couple months, and I kept checking with them because something was wrong and I was nervous about not having a student visa,” Rodriguez said.

Then she was notified in October 2014 that she had a week to leave the United States or else she would be in the country illegally, which would result in deportation. With her tourist visa, it was not legal for her to attend Jewell. Admissions thought that it would be legal for her to attend school here while she waited for the change of status, but it wasn’t.

So she had to move out of her residence hall immediately. She stored her belongings at her coach’s house and stayed with a friend.

Rodriguez went back to Spain, went through the visa application process again, got a student visa effective spring semester of 2015 and returned to Jewell. However, this all cost her a lot of money.

Below is an excerpt from an appeal Rodriguez wrote last year addressed to President David Sallee and Brian Clemons, VP for Finance & Operations & Treasurer. This appeal is in response, primarily, to the high costs from this situation, but it also explains why Rodriguez didn’t initially go back to Spain:

“I don’t know if you are aware of my situation or what happened the first semester. I am an international student from Spain and I transferred in here for the fall semester. When I enrolled here at Jewell I was told that my Visa was ok … and we could do a change of status while I was a student. On Oct. 28, I was told that I could not change my visa status and that I had to withdraw from classes and return home immediately because I was in violation of my Visa.”

This appeal goes on to state, in bullet points, the financial burdens she faced:

I had originally had a plane ticket in August to go back to Spain but did not use it because I was told I was ok to enroll
I had to buy a plane ticket on short notice which was very expensive
I had to apply for the visa change of status and pay those fees while I was here thinking that it could be changed.
After finding out that I had to go back to Spain I had to re-apply for a change of Visa and pay the fees again. (Each application costs around $200)
I had to be moved out and off campus on Nov. 6 and didn’t come back until January. I paid for my room and board to cover until Dec. 12.

The school did grant Rodriguez a discount on tuition costs for the spring semester.

In October 2015 Javier de la Blanca, junior business administration major, had similar difficulties. He came to Jewell in August 2015 and entered the country on something that is called an ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization). But the ESTA is meant for tourism, so it’s only good for 90 days.

So when de la Blanca was trying to apply for jobs, he found out that he couldn’t because he didn’t have the proper visa. He had two options: request all of the paperwork and wait for it to go through or to go outside the United States and then come back with the stamp. Considering that waiting the three months for the paperwork would have gotten him deported, he decided to go to Mexico.

He went to where his girlfriend lives in San Diego and drove to Tijuana. What he needed was a stamp on his I-20 form to validate his student visa to replace the ESTA.

“There was a huge line to get into the [United States]. We had to get into a van with a lot of random people, I was really scared because it was really sketch. We waited for four hours and then I got my I-20 signed and then I was legal again and able to work,” de la Blanca said.

As Groves described it, these situations are rare. There are 40 international students on campus, each with unique circumstances and particularities surrounding the status of their visas. Both Rodriguez and de la Blanca have had troubles with their visa statuses, but the issues are resolved now.

“Admissions helped me resolve the problem, but I don’t feel like it was my problem. They should be the ones in charge of knowing what the situation is with [international students]. They knew I entered the country and that I didn’t have my visa. I think they assumed that signing the I-20 was enough, but it wasn’t,” de la Blanca said.

Rodriguez is glad simply to be back at Jewell, and she’s grateful to those who have supported her during this experience.

“I think everything happens for a reason. This made me realize that people here are really supportive and caring. I found a group of people here that really care about me and like me and want me to be here. That’s difficult to find sometimes, so I’m thankful for that and my coach (Jill Slominski), because she helped me a lot,” Rodriguez said.

Editor’s Note: A special thanks to Jason Groves for helping me navigate the confusing, labyrinthine nature of the visa application process.

Feature photo by Kyle Rivas.

International students aim to establish campus organization

Caitlin Troutman — Fri, 31 Oct 2014 19:29:13 +0000

The International Students Association (INSA) is new organization forming on campus dedicated to helping students from other countries acclimate to American culture and the William Jewell environment.

Ruonan Zhao, senior, is the president of INSA. From China, Zhao chose to attend William Jewell because of its relatively small size and its biology program.

“Small schools are better than big state universities for international students in a sense that it allows us to learn more about American culture and practice our use of language,” said Zhao.

Perhaps for this reason, students from different parts of the world enroll at Jewell every year. About three percent of students are foreign nationals, according to forbes.com. These students hail from a number of different countries, including China, the United Kingdom, Australia and Sweden. Many students are on athletic teams or specialized academic programs at Jewell, which both serve as incentives to attend the school and help with tuition costs. Origin countries of international students are represented by the flags hanging from the ceiling in the union.

Jewell has a special system and staff in place to accommodate international students and the needs they may have while studying in the United States, such as obtaining a visa or taking English proficiency tests. The Office of Admission, in partnership with the Office of Student Life advises students on application and banking procedures, holds a special orientation process for international students every fall, makes arrangements for housing during breaks, and takes other measures to meet the students’ needs.

Jason Groves, coordinator of International Student Recruitment and Advising, serves as a faculty advisor and advocate for international students.

While the College handles the more bureaucratic and academic aspects of an international student’s college experience, INSA’s focus is more on students’ personal and social needs.

“The goals of the INSA are to help international students adapt to American culture and make them feel like they’re at home,” said Zhao.

In order to make this transition from a different country easier, Zhao emphasized the importance of meeting other people.

“I hope international students could communicate or socialize with American students more through our events as an organization,” she said. “I made some good friends and they taught me a lot about American culture and different things. Making good friends and reaching out were definitely important steps for me when I was adapting.”

The association is new this year, and is currently waiting on approval from the Office of Student Life before it can become an official Jewell organization. Because of this, Zhao, along with Vice President Labinot Ibrahimi, senior, and faculty advisor Dr. Yuriy Bots, professor of economics, are working to make sure the group is on track to become an established organization. Much of their work at this point concerns grant approval and general start up tasks.

Thus far, the group has participated in the “Discover Jewell Video Contest” in order to gain publicity for the club. In the video, several international students express what they like about Jewell in different languages.

The INSA cabinet is adopting a long term strategic perspective.

“Our future plans include having an international week where students from different countries have presentations about unique things from their culture or things like that,” Zhao said. “I hope to see INSA really become an important part of building the diversity at Jewell. Maybe INSA can cooperate with CUA or other organizations and we can have events together.”

Zhao also encouraged U.S. students to join the organization once it is up and running.

“We welcome American students to join our community. Things would actually be easier with the help of American students. After all, international students are here to experience a different culture, but not to isolate themselves,” Zhao said.

Because of its unconfirmed status, INSA currently does not have an official meeting time. Once they are approved as an official organization, they will expand membership and begin meeting regularly.

Interested students can visit the organization’s Facebook page for updates.