By RON SOUTHWICK
The Chronicle of Higher Education
September 28, 2001

University officials and lobbyists fear that federal regulations governing foreign students may be tightened in the wake of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The officials say that any new restrictions could drastically reduce the number of foreign students in the United States, but they acknowledge that arguing against tighter visa rules may be difficult in the coming months.

Even before the attacks, several research universities worried about reports that foreign students, especially Chinese students, were facing greater roadblocks in obtaining visas. A number of institutions have protested a rise in rejected applications for student visas from China, the country supplying the most foreign students to the United States.

College lobbyists also have been fighting for months a plan by the federal government to collect a $95 fee from foreign students. The fee would finance a national system to gather information on students from other countries. College advocates say the database sends a bad message by singling out international students, and that the fee would pose a hardship for some students.

Now, most academic officials expect that Congress will closely examine, and probably tighten, rules governing foreign students. However, they cautioned against setting up too many roadblocks.

"The natural reaction would be to close our doors to foreign students, and that would be exactly the wrong step," said Terry W. Hartle, senior vice president for government and public affairs for the American Council on Education, a lobbying group that represents most of the country's colleges. "The lesson of the last week is we need more engagement with the world, not less."

State Department officials said it was too early to know if any changes in or limitations on the number of foreign students permitted to study here are forthcoming.

During the 1999-2000 academic year, 514,723 residents from foreign countries studied in the United States, according to the Institute of International Education.

With 54,466 students, China supplied more than any other country. In recent months, several institutions, including Duke, Harvard, Michigan State, and Syracuse Universities, and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, have complained that a growing number of Chinese students cannot get visas.

State Department statistics show that 40 percent of all student-visa applications from China were rejected between May 15 and June 20, compared with about 20 percent in that same period in 2000.

Several university officials met with representatives of the department last month to discuss the problem. U.S. officials contend that while more Chinese students are being rejected, it is partly because more are applying. State Department officials say there has been no change in policy or in the criteria for visa approval.

Nonetheless, college officials worry that international students may find it much harder to get a visa in the coming months.

"The events of the last week are going to exacerbate this situation not just with China but with graduate students all over the world," said Thomas Linney, vice president and director of federal relations at the Council of Graduate Schools.

Restricting student visas may do little to improve security, because countries that have had past hostilities with the United States send very few students to American universities, higher-education advocates noted. Afghanistan sent about 20 students to universities in the United States in 1999-2000. About 450 students from Iran received student visas, while 50 students came from Iraq.

At the very least, opponents of the proposed monitoring system, dubbed the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, said that it will be very difficult to convince Congress that the system is not needed.

The monitoring system would include a database of information about foreign students, including addresses, telephone numbers, colleges, and fields of study. If a student dropped out of classes, officials of the Immigration and Naturalization Service would be authorized to locate him or her.

The chief critic of the monitoring program, NAFSA: Association of International Educators, last week dropped its opposition to the idea.

The group, which promotes foreign exchange, said that while it still doesn't like the concept of the monitoring system, it would not choose to fight it, given recent events.

However, Victor C. Johnson, the group's director of public policy, said he hoped that the government would finance the database itself instead of asking foreign students to pay for it. He planned to talk to members of Congress about encouraging the government to cover the costs of the program.

The Bush administration had considered putting the program in place this fall. Following concerns expressed by some members of Congress, officials within the immigration service decided to continue reviewing it. Some lawmakers had said there would not be enough time to provide notice to foreign students.

The system emerged from federal immigration legislation passed in 1996. Congress passed the law following reports that one of those involved in the World Trade Center bombing in 1993 had been living in the country on an expired student visa.

Some advocates like Mr. Hartle suggested that the State Department should invest more money in hiring people to interview applicants for student visas. Many officials at U.S. embassies spend only a few minutes interviewing each candidate. "That's the area we ought to be thinking about strengthening," he said.