The first few months of the US President Donald Trump administration has brought news of international students facing revoked visas, deportations, and recently, Harvard University received government orders against accepting international students, even current students were expected to figure out transfers to keep their visas. Bengaluru’s students – aspiring to obtain a coveted US degree – who had already applied and even gotten accepted, have not been unaffected by the news, with some turning down US offers.
One such student is Meghana Abhijeet Khanolkar, who recently graduated Class 12 from a reputed CBSE school, and received admission to three well-known US institutions but turned them down in favour of an Indian liberal arts university. She cites the huge financial commitment combined with the unstable political scenario as the reason, stating, “The uncertainty for international students definitely played a big part in my decision because I had no idea if I’d get a visa, and even if I did, there’s a chance of it being cancelled after getting there. I didn’t want to be stuck with no Indian universities as a backup.”
Cammie Vallepalli, college counsellor at Canadian International School, which sees a significant number of their graduating class go to universities in the United States each year, noticed this apprehension among the school’s students and parents too, who are closely following Trump’s actions. “The number of applications to the US remained steady this year but we have had families and students reach out in the past few weeks expressing concern about going to the US at this time. Several students are deciding to turn down US admissions offers in favour of a seat at another university in the UK or Australia,” she notes.
Sonal Kapoor, global chief business officer at Prodigy Finance, a company that gives financial aid to students to study abroad concurred, saying that despite consistent interest, students are being cautious, applying to several countries as a backup. “The broader global context can’t be ignored. Overall, international student enrollment in the US has declined by 11 per cent during this period. At the same time, the demand for education in other countries like the UK has risen by 50 per cent, and countries such as France, Germany, Singapore and New Zealand are seeing a rise in enrolment of up to 150 per cent,” she says.
Despite the uncertainty, many students are still willing to take the risk for a coveted US degree. “While interacting with students from Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Kolkata, we found that at least 50 per cent of them want to go to the US for their education, they are even willing to wait a year to pursue their studies there,” says Kapoor, adding, “STEM and innovation-driven students, those with ambitions tied to Silicon Valley, AI startups, or US tech firms, continue to prioritise the United States. They see it as the ultimate launchpad for their careers. Even those applying elsewhere are often hoping for stability to return to the US landscape.”
Krish S, currently waiting to get a visa appointment before going to study physics at the University of California, San Diego, is optimistic despite the recent order to halt visa appointments and screen the social media accounts of those who apply.
He says, “I am thinking of going into the research side of astrophysics, particle physics or quantum physics,” he says, adding, “While stricter checking is going on for visas, I don’t feel like it’s much of a problem because as long as you’re within the law, there’s nothing to be worried about. Some of my friends were a bit scared after the Harvard issue but now they’re not really worried because it seems like a university-specific problem with other universities not being impacted.”