Wright State expects fewer foreign students because of ‘Trump effect’

Wright State Provost Tom Sudkamp speaks at a dinner for international education week at Wright State last fall. Sudkamp said that President Donald Trump is having a negative impact on international student enrollment.

Wright State Provost Tom Sudkamp speaks at a dinner for international education week at Wright State last fall. Sudkamp said that President Donald Trump is having a negative impact on international student enrollment.

Wright State expects to enroll fewer international students in the short term because of what provost Tom Sudkamp referred to in a trustees meeting on Friday as “the Trump effect.”

Sudkamp made the comment, which he said is “commonly used” in higher education, just hours after the inauguration of Donald Trump as the nation’s 45h president. Sudkamp said administrators noticed “the Trump effect,” what he described as a reluctance of foreign students to study in the U.S., during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Despite his tough talk on immigration, Trump has not commented much on international students.

Sudkamp mentioned that Canada was now considered the country of choice for international students.

Wright State saw a dip of more than 400 international students this fall, mostly from Saudi Arabia, officials have said. The drop in enrollment resulted in a loss of around $10 million, said Wright State president David Hopkins.

Ohio ranks eighth nationally with more than 37,700 international students enrolled in college, and those students contribute more than $1.1 billion to the state’s economy, according to the Institute of International Education.

Wright State has the fifth most international students of any college in Ohio with 2,439 international students, according to the institute.

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