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Trump recently swatted a hornet's nest when Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that foreign students would have to leave the country or transfer if their school only offers online classes in the fall.
After several schools filed for a restraining order, Trump rescinded the ICE change and avoided a messy standoff. By firing volleys at the ivory tower, however, Trump pulled back the veil to reveal academia as the profit-driven, self-serving enterprise it is.
While the change would have caused inconvenience to many foreign students, the real impetus behind academia’s fervor in opposing the rule was money... Foreign students are a cash cow for higher education, paying roughly three times the tuition of in-state students. In 2015, public universities alone reaped a windfall of more than $9 billion in tuition and fees from foreign students.
The relationship between higher education and foreign students is also a driver for visa overstays. The Department of Homeland Security reported in 2017 that more than 606,000 visitors overstayed their tourist, work, business, and student visas. ... One of the many ways to live in the U.S. illegally is to obtain a student visa, then melt into the shadows of American society when the visa expires.
Academia’s addiction to foreign students is analogous to big business’s addiction to cheap foreign labor. They are both exploiting foreign nationals to pad their bottom lines. In both cases, American citizens tend to be excluded or replaced as a result. Despite their soaring ideals and ivy-covered buildings, our revered institutes of higher learning should be treated no differently than any other large corporations that play fast and loose with our immigration laws to increase cash flow.
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