2 Minnesota colleges to offer foreign students scholarships

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Two Minnesota colleges plan to offer scholarships that let international students know they are welcome on U.S. campuses.

The University of Minnesota and Concordia College in Moorhead are among nine U.S. colleges offering #YouAreWelcomeHere scholarships to international undergraduates, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported .

The schools will start offering the scholarships in fall of 2019.

The scholarships will save students $15,000 a year at the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus. At Concordia, the savings will be $19,825 - half the cost of tuition.

Each school will make two new awards each year. The scholarships are renewable.

Colleges and universities in the U.S. are trying to reassure foreign students that they are welcome despite President Donald Trump’s stance on immigration.

Philadelphia’s Temple University sparked the campaign when it posted an online video featuring students and staff members saying “You are welcome here” in multiple languages, prompting other schools to make similar videos and circulate them abroad. The scholarships are the next step in the campaign.

The University of Minnesota’s flagship campus has seen its international enrollment jump since discounting nonresident tuition in fall of 2008. The university now has about 2,900 undergrads who reside in another country, up from 572 in 2007, as well as another 3,200 graduate students who come from outside the U.S. Officials have reported a small drop in enrollment applications for next year.

“In our interactions with prospective international students, we found that they are really concerned about the political climate and are looking at other countries, like Canada, which are seen as more welcoming,” said Aimee Thostenson, director of international student recruitment for the university’s Twin Cities campus.

Matt Beatty, Concordia’s international admissions director, hopes many more U.S. colleges will add #YouAreWelcomeHere scholarships to preserve the United States’ status as the most popular destination for international study.

Concordia has 100 international students. And while few of those students are subject to the travel bans signed by Trump, Beatty said the U.S. doesn’t feel as friendly as it once did.

“I think there’s a fear factor,” he said.

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Information from: St. Paul Pioneer Press, http://www.twincities.com