International students wherever they study cannot help but to bring back impressions (usually favorable) of the country and society they within.    This idea is behind the several immigration policies including the J-1 exchange student program and the Fulbright Scholarship.   To universities and colleges in the United States international students not only bring diversity to the campus but also full-tuition dollars.   It is important to know that international students must prove the have the funds to live in the United States and pay for their education without working.  It is a very costly investment for a foreign student to attend a program in the United States and this fact is often reflected in there hard work and dedication to study.  The Department of Homeland Security, in response to the COVID-19 crisis issued temporary exemptions to allow international students to take more than one online class  per semester.  Therefore, it was quite a shock when on July 6, 2020, the Trump administration issued a guidance that international students that attended schools that would start the fall semester with only online courses would have to leave the United States.  Schools were thrown "into chaos".

Harvard and MIT immediately sued the Department of Homeland Security and were soon joined by many other universities and by the several States.  In a federal court on July 14, 2020 the Department of Homeland Security agreed to fully rescind the July 6, 2020 guidance.  Unfortunately, attending any educational institution this fall is unlike any previous year in history.  During depression and war the student experience was fundamentally the same.  That will not be the case for this fall when incoming students may be living in hotels, no intramural events, not clubs, and the majority of classes online.  However, at least international students and local students get to continue their studies in the same manner.  Let's hope all students find a way to make their educational experience exciting and rewarding.