As the summer months continue to pass on by, many universities across the country are faced with the decision on how they will continue to educate their students as the upcoming school year quickly approaches. While some schools have already announced what they plan to do for the fall time, ICE has issued a message to international students whose universities will continue to do online learning for the fall semester.
According to the Associated Press, federal immigration authorities announced some new guidelines on Monday and said that international students will be forced to leave the U.S. or transfer to another school if their schools offer classes entirely online this fall. This new guideline has now put a new pressure on universities across the country to reopen despite the presence of COVID-19.
Under the new guidelines, international students must take at least one of their classes in person. There will be no new visas issued to students who attend a school where all classes are entirely online. International students who attend institutions with a mixture of in-person and online classes will be blocked from taking all of their classes online.
The guideline states that students who are attending schools that are staying online must “depart the country or take other measures, such as transferring to a school with in-person instruction.”
The American Council on Education expressed their disapproval of ICE’s decision, and called their latest action “horrifying.” Terry Hartle, the council’s senior vice president said, “It’s going to cause enormous confusion and uncertainty. ICE is clearly creating an incentive for institutions to reopen, regardless of whether or not the circumstances of the pandemic warrant it.”
Many universities across the country depend on the tuition from international students to bring in a great amount of money to their campuses as they pay a higher tuition rate. The AP reports that colleges in the U.S. attracted nearly 1.1 million students from abroad.
ICE’s latest announcement concerning international students comes as schools start to announce their upcoming plans for the fall semester. As we previously reported, Harvard announced that they will welcome 40% of their students back to campus during the fall semester, but all classes will still remain online.
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TSR STAFF: Jade Ashley @Jade_Ashley94
