Senators grill Education Secretary Linda McMahon over proposed cuts
Education Secretary Linda McMahon testified to Congress over proposed budget cuts.
- Temporary suspension of visa interviews and travel bans affecting numerous countries could result in fewer international students in this country.
- Foreign students comprise more than 20% of Gannon’s total enrollment.
- International students help schools cope with declining numbers of American students and contribute significantly to the American economy.
Gannon University is making contingency plans to cope with a possible decline in foreign student enrollment this fall.
A spate of new Trump administration policies affecting students from other countries studying in the United States will bar some prospective students from coming to Erie and may encourage more to enroll in other countries.
And that would take a toll on the university budget and could trigger job cuts or voluntary “job separations,” such as retirement incentives, university officials said.
“Like every other school that has international students, this is a new reality that we’re all wrestling with,” said Doug Oathout, chief of staff for Gannon President Walter Iwanenko. “We’re trying to anticipate if there will be a hit in enrollment, and if so how big it will be and how we manage that hit to enrollment and finances.
“If it’s significant, it could result in us having to adjust our staffing. That’s something we’re starting to see at universities across the country,” Oathout said.
The new reality
The U.S. State Department has temporarily suspended visa interviews required for foreign students planning to study in the United States while it prepares guidelines to screen the students’ social media activity, according to a cable to U.S. missions abroad signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The action was first reported by Politico.
The action couldn’t come at a worse time, Oathout said.
“This comes right at the time of year when students, after filing all their paperwork and having their visas approved, have to sit down and have interviews. Those interviews usually happen in June and July,” Oathout said. “If this pause is short-lived, it will be just an ill-timed bump in the road. But if it stretches out, it could really be disruptive for enrollment this fall.”
About 3,000 foreign students have applied for undergraduate or graduate admission to Gannon this year. Some will drop out of the process. Between 600 and 1,000 of those students are estimated to be in the process of applying for visas or scheduling visa interviews.
As of May 30, some students were still able to schedule interview appointments, Oathout said.
“It just adds to the confusion of all of this, that what’s being said by the State Department doesn’t always match what we’re hearing on the ground,” Oathout said.
Gannon isn’t questioning State Department intentions, Oathout said.
“We understand the motivation by the government to make sure that our homeland is secure. But it also has to appreciate the disruptive effects this could have on our schools and our economy,” Oathout said.
Also affecting international student enrollment is the Trump administration’s ban on travel to the United States from 12 countries and restrictions placed on travel from seven more. Students hoping to study in the United States are not exempted.
Gannon University currently has seven students from those countries — four from Afghanistan, two from Venezuela and one from Yemen.
The university has advised students from those and other countries to remain in the United States and not go home during breaks if their ability to return may be uncertain. Many are staying with friends or working summer jobs, Oathout said.
The State Department earlier this spring revoked visas for thousands of foreign students, including five Gannon University students. Many of the students have had their visas reinstated or have won court cases challenging the government action.
International student economics
There were 1.1 million foreign students enrolled at American colleges and universities in 2023-24, according to data from NAFSA: Association of International Educators.
Those students contributed an estimated $43.4 billion to the U.S. economy and supported more than 378,000 jobs.
There were 50,514 international students in Pennsylvania that academic year, providing an estimated $2.2 billion boost to the state’s economy and supporting 22,000 jobs.
In 2024-25, there were 1,024 foreign students at Gannon University, comprising almost 22% of the university’s 4,700 total enrollment.
And foreign students contribute to Erie’s economy.
“They’re not just paying tuition, they’re paying rent and they’re supporting local businesses, whether it’s the Uber driver who gets them around town or where they shop,” Oathout said.
And they’re supporting Gannon jobs. Whether jobs will be lost if international enrollment declines isn’t yet known.
“At the moment we’re just trying to see what all our possible options are,” Oathout said. “We just don’t know what the answer is.”
If foreign student enrollments decline, schools might not be able to compensate by boosting native student enrollments. The U.S. birth rate has declined since the 2007 Great Recession, minus a slight bump during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The demographic cliff that everyone talked about for several years is here,” Oathout said. “Fewer seniors are graduating from high school, and even among those seniors, a growing proportion is deciding not to go into higher education.”
On top of that, proposed changes to higher education grant and loan programs in the federal budget reconciliation bill would reduce the pool of funds available to help students pay for college.
Colleges and universities will have to be nimble to survive.
“At the moment, we’re just trying to see what all our possible options are,” Oathout said. “We just don’t know what the answers are when we don’t know what targets we’re shooting at.”
Contact Valerie Myers at vmyers@gannett.com.