DENVER — The University of Colorado system is seeing a decline in enrollment by about 900 students this fall compared to last year with about two-thirds of that decline coming from its international students.
With a new school year already in session, CU officials are tackling an enrollment drop among its international students.
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“International is part of our enrollment ecosystem,” CU Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Chad Marcharano said.
The decrease is being seen mainly at its CU Boulder and CU Denver campuses. CU Denver saw the biggest decline at 21%, which is about 180 students. CU boulder is down by 19%, or about 400 students.
“We're seeing it in both new students and continuing students,” Marcharano said.
CU officials said they believe the drop is tied to federal policy changes.
“Changes in visas or changes in terms of travel bans, and we believe that that's impacting international students' decisions or their ability to come and pursue an education at CU,” Marcharano added.
But CU isn't the only university system seeing these impacts.
“We're seeing international enrollment decline across the country,” Marcharano told Denver7.
Local immigration attorney Matthew Barringer said the uncertainty on federal policies can make it harder for students to plan their future in the United States.
“More simply stated, is predictability. That's the thing that I think that is chilled a lot of students, prospective students coming to the United States,” Barringer Law Firm managing partner Matthew Barringer said.
For international students already here, Barringer said one of the biggest questions is what happens after graduation.
“They have two choices: they can try to extend that F1, get into a graduate program, and/or do what's called OPT, which is essentially to work within the same industry for which they got their degree in. That's been the biggest decline,” Barringer said.
CU officials said students with questions about their immigration status should contact their campus enrollment office to help them get ahead of any potential challenges
“We need to continue to lean into our mission, continue serving students and make sure that students know that CU is a place that they are welcome to come and pursue their academic career,” Marcharano said.
Denver7 reached out to other local universities to find out what they are seeing in terms of their international enrollment.
MSU Denver said they saw a slight increase in international students attending this fall compared to last fall.
The University of Denver said since classes just started, they are still working to finalize numbers.
Colorado State University said they will release their enrollment numbers next month.
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