EMU has a long history of international cooperation, not just in sending its students out of the United States for intercultural programs, but also in accepting students from around the world. Representing 44 different countries, international students make up a notable portion of the EMU student body. In recent months though, policy and attitude changes around immigration have called into question the viability of EMU’s international outreach.
During the Fall 2023 semester, according to Travis Trotter, the University Registrar, there were 75 international students. In 2024, there were 80. For the current academic year, 2025, that number has fallen to 65, with most losses seen in the undergraduate population.
Although the number of international students fluctuates naturally from year to year, it’s impossible to ignore the fact that recent policies have made the United States a less attractive destination for many in the international community. Historically, international students looking to study abroad primarily went to countries like the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom, according to Jacob Horsley, Associate Director of International Admissions at EMU. In recent years, however, the number of destination nations has increased.
“Now [students] are going to destinations like Ireland, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan – other areas of the world that have academic infrastructure to manage a higher volume of students, and are more welcoming as a country to international students,” Horsley said. As per Horsley, while students do have to consider things like affordability and job prospects after graduation, they also want to study in a place where they feel like they belong. “That’s one part of perception for international students,” he said. “You know, ‘Am I safe? Am am I going to a place that I’m going to be welcomed to?’”
National statistics reflect EMU’s numbers, with the New York Times reporting a 19% decrease in international students from August 2024 to August 2025. This trend has real-world impacts, as according to the Brookings Institution, international students contribute billions of dollars to the US economy, creating a measurably positive impact on the nation.
On a personal level, those who work with international students at EMU are feeling the impact of policy and cultural changes. Micah Shristi, the Director for International Student Services at EMU, works directly with students, helping them with academics, cultural issues, or even finding a good dentist.
Although attitudes towards international students shift regularly, “in the decade or so I’ve been doing this work, this feels like the most under attack that [international] students… have been under,” reflected Shristi. “The first Trump administration was hard, but this is definitely harder.”
While many students come to the United States specifically to attend EMU, not every “international” student takes that route. Students who come to the US to study typically apply for an F-1 visa, which is specifically for education. At the IEP (Intensive English Program), which is a non-credit program through EMU, most of the students take different routes.
According to Jeremy Samsoe, Director of the IEP, “Historically, it was… students who are studying on student, F-1 visas. That changed 20 years ago or so, when we started enrolling local students… and then over time, that number has kind of shifted from being mostly international students, with some locals, to being overwhelmingly locals.”
Many of the local students are people who immigrated to the US, then found themselves living in the Harrisonburg area and in need of a way to effectively learn English. Because of this different demographic, “we’ve actually seen an uptick in enrollment,” Samsoe said. As the area’s immigrant population has grown, so has the demand for English-learning services.
Just because enrollment is up, though, doesn’t mean that IEP students have been unaffected by recent policy changes. “For a lot of our students, there’s hardships… It’s definitely impacted the lives, even if it’s maybe tangentially, of a lot of our students. It might be their communities, it might be their families, it might be their friends, their neighbors, but a lot of people feel it,” Samsoe shared.
In a nation in which rhetoric towards immigrants is increasingly negative, and non-citizens face increasing threats, educational institutions are arguably more important than ever. “Our students generally are really excited and happy to be here. They see it as a privilege to be in school. Some of them come from situations where they would not be allowed to study in their country for various reasons, and so they really appreciate any kind of class they can take here,” said Kris Long, the Office, Admissions, and Registration Coordinator for the IEP.
However, as funding gets cut from the organizations which often provide the money for immigrants to pursue education, prospective students face the barrier of cost. In response, the IEP has started a scholarship fund to try to offset some costs, as regular EMU scholarships do not apply to IEP students.
Although higher education may be facing challenges today, it’s always important to look towards the future. As Horsley reflected, “We live in a very unprecedented age, and we don’t know what the future will look like, and so we are… really working towards making sure that international education still exists, not only at EMU, but in the United States at large.”
If you are interested in learning more about – or contributing to – the IEP scholarship fund, inquiries can be directed to Kris Long at kris.long@emu.edu.
