Enrollment of international students at the nation's universities declined by 2.4 percent during the last academic year, according to a new report.
The "Open Doors 2004" study, released Wednesday by the Institute of International Education, also states that undergraduate enrollment by foreigners decreased by close to 5 percent.
The decrease might mark the beginning of a new trend of lower enrollment, since most foreign students come to the United States to study for multiple years.
And though the decline can be attributed to many factors, new national security rules have played the biggest roles, according to an IIE press release from Wednesday.
Andrea Matteo of the Association of International Educators said that although foreign students still share a strong interest in getting an education in the United States, many have found it too difficult to obtain a visa in recent years.
"We just have to fix our image," she said.
In order to regain the student market, Matteo said, students around the world need to know they are welcome in the country. On a practical level, she added, educators could accomplish this by making the visa process easier and prioritizing student applications.
Some schools, such as Rice University, the University of Texas- Austin and Harvard University, are even going so far as to reimburse students for the mandatory $100 visa application fee - which students must pay if they want to apply to American universities.
Although overall foreign enrollment has dropped, some countries continue to send many students here to study.
