IBL News | New York
American colleges and universities will lose at least $3 billion due to anticipated international student enrollment declines this fall, in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a financial survey from NAFSA, the Association of International Educators.
Results of the survey indicate that U.S. higher education overall has potentially lost nearly $1 billion due to shortened or canceled study abroad programs.
“A decline in international student enrollments will force institutions to revise international student enrollment management strategies, but they will take time to rebuild—most likely several years,” states the report.
“With travel restrictions, visa delays, and economic instability worldwide, COVID-19 has been incredibly harmful to the field of international education,” said Esther D. Brimmer, Executive Director and CEO of NAFSA: Association of International Educators, in a press statement.
Now institutions are reducing staff hours, eliminating staff positions, and introducing furloughs to recoup current losses, and bracing for future shortfalls. Sixty-five percent of respondents said that staff positions in education abroad offices have already been or may be impacted.
The foreign students contribute more than $44 billion annually and nearly 500,000 jobs, according to the Department of Commerce.
