US draws fewer new foreign students for 3rd straight year

According to a new report…the number of foreign students coming to U.S. colleges and universities continued to fall last year.

The Trump administration says the drop should be blamed on high tuition costs and not students’ concerns over the nation’s political atmosphere.

An annual report from the Institute of International Education found that the number of newly enrolled international students dipped by 1% in fall 2018 compared to the year before. It follows decreases of 7% and 3% in the previous two years, which were the first downturns in more than a decade.

The downturn is a worry for universities that have come to rely on tuition from foreign students, who are typically charged higher rates. Some schools have blamed President Donald Trump’s rhetoric against immigrants for driving students away, but officials at the State Department, which pays for the annual report, dismissed the idea.