America needs foreign students!

America needs foreign students! We win when the best and brightest come to America to learn and thrive. America is still the land of opportunity, in part because of our education system and our ability to attract and educate exceptional global talent who have come to America to learn, contribute, and build. Build companies, careers, their families, and create jobs and opportunities for themselves, their families, and for America.

That is why I was disappointed by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announcement that international students will not be allowed to stay in this country if their institutions are holding online courses this coming semester. Let me be clear, this hurts us all. What is worse is that the order came with little warning to institutions or students and seemed to work against the interest of the students, universities, employers, and our economy. That is why Chegg is fully supporting Harvard and MIT’s amicus brief challenging the order, filed today. 

More than a million foreign students attend US Colleges and Universities. Many pay full tuition and are estimated to contribute $44.7 billion to the US economy every year. The majority pursue valuable STEM fields, especially in computer science and engineering. One only has to look at my fellow leaders in Silicon Valley to see the benefit of this. 

With the advent of Covid19, many have already returned home. Those that have remained often have good reasons for not returning - they may have jobs or family here, or are trying to avoid returning to dangerous environments they were trying to leave in the first place.

Ultimately, this will put tremendous pressure on our Universities. Full paying foreign students have often subsidized the tuition of US students to attend College. By further closing the door to them- it is unclear how many were returning in the fall already - we create further financial pressure on our struggling education system. Many colleges are now faced with a terrible choice: open their campuses when we are not clear they are safe or face further economic hardship. Our internal data is already showing that online learning can be effective, but the students benefit from being in the same time zone as their instructors and fellow colleagues.

Universities need the time and support to work out what hybrid model of education is safest for their students and staff. They are desperate to reopen their campuses, but there are very clear health risks right now. This requires forethought and patience. We all want to reopen our economy and schools, but each school and state need to make the best decision for their students, faculty, and their families.

Let’s focus on being student first.