As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office again, colleges and universities are scrambling to anticipate how Trump’s immigration policies will affect their students and their schools.

What You Need To Know

  • President-elect Donald Trump’s immigration policies could reshape higher education
  • Some schools are encouraging international students to return to the U.S. before the inauguration

  • Most DACA recipients are now out of school; if they are deported, it could hurt the economy
  • The need for visas and funding could be future fights between the administration and the higher education industry

American higher education is bracing for Trump's return to the White House. A promise to crack down on immigration has colleges and universities searching for ways to guarantee their foreign-born students can continue their studies without incident.

“Right now is the time for colleges and universities to plan and prepare but not panic,” said Miriam Feldblum, executive director at the President's Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration.

Some schools, including Yale University and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, have issued travel advisories urging foreign-born students to return from international travel before Trump’s inauguration. The schools remember that during his first term as president, Trump tried to ban travel into the U.S. from Muslim-majority countries, even as some students relying on visas to return to the U.S. faced delays in entering the country. 

There is special concern for students who are enrolled in DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which was created by President Barack Obama and may be at risk. DACA recipients are undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children. The DACA program allows them to live, work and study in the U.S. without fear of deportation.

A court three years ago blocked the government from approving new DACA applications, and a challenge to the program itself continues. In his first term as president, Trump tried and failed to end the program. In an interview last week, Trump expressed hope that something could be done to protect DACA recipients, but he did not say what that might be. 

However, it’s not only college students who might be at risk as a result of the incoming president’s policies. Some college personnel, including those enrolled in DACA, could be in jeopardy, too.

“DACA recipients are actually employees and graduates," Feldblum said. "There'll be a broader economic impact if those DACA recipients who are now contributing, paying taxes and working to support communities and campuses can no longer do so."

Other fights between the incoming administration and higher education could include the need to secure visas to enter the United States and the possibility that lawmakers trip funding from schools that offer in-state tuition to undocumented students. Still, interest by foreign-born students in attending U.S. colleges and universities is not expected to decline.

“One of the things that we know is that — and that's not changing — is that the U.S. will remain a top destination where international students are interested in studying and screen and succeeding. That is true now. It's going to be true in the future,” said Feldblum.

The President’s Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, which is dedicated to increasing public understanding of how immigration policies affect colleges and universities, says the incoming Trump administration will face pressure to allow foreign-born students to continue attending American schools.

“I think that elected officials, industry leaders, higher education leaders, civic leaders, all know that what's key for America's prosperity is talent in a workforce that is ready and able to meet our needs, and that includes also leveraging and utilizing the support of international students, immigrant students and refugee students,” said Feldblum.

While Trump does have the power to reshape parts of higher education with executive orders, he will need Congress to pass some of his more sweeping proposals, such as eliminating the Department of Education and changing immigration laws.