Research Article
Beyond Recruitment: How International Students Navigate Institutional, Financial, and Immigration Regimes in U.S. Higher Education
Alexandria Rose Wiesel-Brown*
Issue:
Volume 11, Issue 3, June 2026
Pages:
87-94
Received:
13 April 2026
Accepted:
22 April 2026
Published:
8 May 2026
DOI:
10.11648/j.ijecs.20261103.11
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Abstract: International students are often celebrated as symbols of global engagement and institutional diversity in U.S. higher education. Yet behind these narratives lie restrictive immigration policies, rising tuition, limited employment opportunities, and uneven institutional support that shape students’ educational experiences and future opportunities. This qualitative study examines how former F-1 international students experienced and responded to intersecting institutional, financial, and immigration systems while enrolled at a private performing arts college in the United States. Using a transformative framework and Critical Policy Analysis, the study draws on in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 10 former international students who completed their degrees between 2015 and 2023. Thematic analysis identified key patterns in participants’ narratives about their educational trajectories, financial challenges, institutional interactions, and immigration-related concerns. The findings revealed four major themes: (a) constrained choices and trade-offs shaped by financial and legal pressures, (b) ongoing financial and legal precarity, (c) emotional strain and fractured senses of belonging, and (d) inconsistent institutional support offset by peer-based networks of care. Participants described how visa restrictions, tuition burdens, and unclear institutional processes limited their options, increased their stress, and often made them feel like conditional members of the campus community rather than fully included students. The study challenges dominant narratives of internationalization that emphasize recruitment, diversity, and student mobility while overlooking the structural inequalities that international students face. By highlighting legal violence, conditional inclusion, and epistemic injustice, the findings suggest that institutions must move beyond symbolic commitments to internationalization and instead adopt more equitable policies, coordinated support systems, and inclusive practices that better reflect international students’ realities.
Abstract: International students are often celebrated as symbols of global engagement and institutional diversity in U.S. higher education. Yet behind these narratives lie restrictive immigration policies, rising tuition, limited employment opportunities, and uneven institutional support that shape students’ educational experiences and future opportunities. ...
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