How Trump's Immigration Crackdown Threatens To Hit Columbia's Finances

Columbia University's dependence on foreign students for its core revenue is proving to now be its Achilles heel. The Trump administration' aggressive tactics against immigration are draining the university of its finances.

About 40 per cent of Columbia University's student pool consists of international students. Students pay $70,000 plus in tuition, but international students bring to the university what Trump froze in its federal research funds two months ago - $903.1 million.

Columbia University ranks third in the US for international students, however, it is proving to be difficult each passing day with Trump's hardline immigration policies.

Although the Trump administration was embroiled more furiously with Harvard University, it leaves Columbia also vulnerable to the White House because of its makeup.

“It's a large chunk of their student population that is differentially paying higher prices than domestic students. I'm sure it's a very serious concern of theirs,” said Jordan Matsudaira, a former deputy education undersecretary from the Biden administration. “They have a massive endowment, but there are restrictions on how much of it they can spend from year to year.”

Apart from Columbia, there's New York University and Northeastern University, as a destination for international students in the year 2023-2024 school year. As for NYU, which Barron Trump attends, anti-Israel protests have not drawn much attention. 

According to a report by Politico, international students are “looking for an exit route”, the graduate student who spoke to the publication, cited Ranjani Srinivasan, a doctoral candidate from Columbia who left for Canada after her student visa was revoked.

“I am getting ready, having a visa to go to Canada because what happened to Ranjani might happen to me and I might need to leave overnight,” the student said.

“This chill not only weakens our community — it undercuts our national interests. Our universities attract the most talented students and scholars from around the world — more than a million came last year. Much analysis has already been done on the impact of that loss on our economy and society”, Acting Columbia President Claire Shipman said. 

Amid Trump's immigration policies and turmoil regarding research spending, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled a half-billion-euro “Choose Europe for Science” plan, this month, to attract foreign researchers.

The Trump administration came close to revoking visas of more than 1,600 international students as of May 7, but many of those revocations have been reversed after judges issued restraining orders.

“This is going to deter foreign students from coming to the United States,” said Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), whose district neighbors Columbia. “And they're going to go to China …and they're going to stay in China and contribute to the economy there.”

However, some Republicans feel that fewer students coming to wealthy institutions like Columbia University will not make much of a difference as “they're all paying the same private school tuition rate,” Diane Auer Jones, an Education Department official during the first Trump administration, said.

Some people also feel that the growing anti-semitism should be curbed in the campuses and “get back to what our college experience should be” Rep. Burgess Owens (R-Utah) said, he added, “to be productive, to understand our country and respect our culture. If that's not happening they need to go back home,” he said.