University of California foreign applications drop sharply

SAN FRANCISCO - International students applied to the University of California last year in far fewer numbers than they did over the 12 previous years, and the decline coincides with the election of President Donald Trump, a San Francisco Chronicle analysis shows.

The dip came after more than a decade in which the number of international applications climbed by an average of 21 percent a year.

"The perception is that this administration wants to keep these students out," said Melanie Gottlieb, the deputy director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, which did a national survey of 261 colleges and universities.

Admissions officers reported that would-be applicants expressed concerns about "negative rhetoric around the Muslim faith, and immigration changes - even before the (aborted) travel ban" involving Muslim-majority countries, Gottlieb told the San Francisco Chronicle (http://bit.ly/2opCtg1).

UC's application deadline for fall 2017 admissions was Nov. 30 and Trump was elected Nov. 8.

Ricardo Vazquez, a spokesman for the University of California Office of the President, said applications for students as a whole usually flood in during the last three weeks before the deadline. He said there were fewer international applicants last November.

Applications from Mexico plunged by 30 percent. People from countries with large populations of Muslims sent in 10 percent fewer applications, the newspaper said.

The U.S. had just led a multinational invasion of Iraq the previous time foreign undergraduates shied away from UC and other American universities.

The new survey of 261 colleges and universities shows that nearly 40 percent of those schools reported a drop in international applications of at least 2 percent, with the greatest decrease from countries in the Middle East.

The U.S. Education Department did not immediately respond to email and phone messages left Monday seeking comment.

While some campuses saw drops in international applications, there were increases at seven UC campuses.

The jump at UC Davis, for example, was 3 percent for next fall, compared with 21 percent for last fall. A similar pattern repeated at the other campuses.

"The UC brand remains very strong" among international students, said Stephen Handel, the university's associate vice president for undergraduate admissions, who said he wasn't sure why international applications dipped this year.

"Of course, the national dialogue (about immigration) is out there," he said. "Students around the world read the newspaper. But there are other things in play."

He said price might be a factor. UC recently increased the surcharge paid by out-of-state resident by 5 percent, raising annual tuition for them to $41,964 beginning this summer.