Brunswick, Maine may not be as appealing for foreign students?and it's not because of the weather.
According to the Office of Admissions, 18 percent fewer foreign students have applied to Bowdoin in the past two years. While foreign students offered 581 applications for the Class of 2007, those trying to enter the Class of 2009 have offered only 476. The two-year decrease in international applications contrasts with the five- percent growth each year in domestic applications.
The Office of Admissions cited numerous reasons for the recent decrease in foreign applications.
"Quite frankly, who's in the White House right now may be detrimental," Hazlett said. "There has been a significant decrease during Bush's term in H1B work permits, which allow foreigners who have graduated from American colleges to work here."
The process of obtaining a student visa has also become increasingly expensive and time-consuming, discouraging potential applicants from even considering schools like Bowdoin. Hazlett said that applying for an F1-Student Visa is a lengthy and often aggravating process that requires Bowdoin sponsorship, evidence from the U.S. consulate indicating the student can support him or herself, multiple interviews, and fees that range from 50 to 200 dollars.
"Sometimes they have to renew them every year," she said.
Beyond political agendas and bureaucratic paperwork, Abhijeet "Sunny" Jha '08, a native of Nepal, said that Bowdoin's international application pool may be suffering due to purely economic reasons.
"Financial aid is extremely important, but Bowdoin is not need-blind with international admissions," Jha said.
He also said that American and foreign students are not treated equally because an expected summer earnings contribution complicates the timing of traveling.
"It cuts out all chances for international students to go home during the summer because it's not possible to earn that much back home," he said. "It also forces international students to stay on campus all the time, as visa status does not allow them to work off campus."
Moreover, foreign students may overlook Bowdoin as an option because of what Sunny said is frequent reliance on Internet rankings. Bowdoin may rank second in quality of food and eighth in living space, but academically it does not compete as well in the international arena.
The diversity of the foreign applicant pool has also suffered in recent years.
Based on statistics published by the Office of Institutional Research, recent trends suggest regional and gender inequalities characterize the decrease in growth of Bowdoin's international student population. Furthermore, in the past four years, the number of female students on campus from foreign countries decreased by 25 percent. The majority of all foreign students at Bowdoin continue to be from Canada or East Asia. These two trends in particular have possibly been influenced by circumstances engendered by the post-September 11 environment at home and abroad. Dean of Admissions Jim Miller said, "I still think it's a leap of faith for parents to allow their children to enter a world that may not be safe."
Determining how to confront this downturn may prove to be challenging for Bowdoin and other prestigious colleges and universities, but college administrations are aware of the contributions made by international students. Besides providing unique perspectives and introducing cultural flavor into the Bowdoin community, Associate Dean of Student Affairs Margaret Hazlett said foreign students tend to be "outstanding students," academically and socially.
What further daunts the contemporary American outlook is the positive growth in international applications to colleges in other countries, most notably in Europe.
Why U.S. colleges have not shared this burden more likely has its roots in federal policy than national intrigue.
The Cold War may be over, but in his State of the Union address President Bush stated, "America's immigration system is outdated?unsuited to the needs of our economy and to the values of our country."
Miller disagrees.
"I don't know what the outcome will be, but we are going to spend a lot of time this semester on financial aid and application issues to [welcome] more international students," he said.