University of Arizona sees decline in applications from international students

PHOENIX — The University of Arizona is seeing a decline in applications from international students, school officials said Wednesday.

Compared to this time last year, applications from international undergraduate students were down 22 percent and down 9 percent for international graduate students.

“This is only one year of data, so we can’t really speculate as to the reasons why applications are down,” U of A spokeswoman Pam Scott said.

Scott said that, although the percentage drop is higher at the undergraduate level, the impact is felt more at the graduate level because a higher percentage of them are from outside of the United States.

In the past five years, about 20 percent of the graduate students at the school have been international, compared to just 7 percent of undergraduates.

U of A isn’t the only university seeing a decline in applications from international students.

The Associated Press recently reported nearly half of the nation’s 25 largest public universities saw international undergraduate application numbers either decline or stagnate since last year.

The findings were based on data colleges provided in response to public records requests. Eight schools did not provide data, and six universities reported gains.

The decline could be tied to President Donald Trump’s stance on immigration. Several schools said they planned to ramp up their marketing efforts to combat growing fears among foreign students, some of whom may feel Trump’s stance on immigration makes the U.S. appear unwelcoming to foreigners.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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