American Dream

Amid tighter student visa restrictions in the US, many youngsters from Bengaluru are turning down offers; demand for education in countries like the UK has risen by 50 per cent, and countries such as France, Germany, Singapore and New Zealand are seeing a rise in enrolment of up to 150 per cent

- MAHIMA NAGARAJU

The first few months of the US President Donald Trump administration has brought news of international students facing revoked visas, deportations, and recently, Harvard University received government orders against accepting international students, even current students were expected to figure out transfers to keep their visas. Bengaluru's students—aspiring to obtain a coveted US degree—who had already applied and even gotten accepted, have not been unaffected by the news, with some turning down US offers.

One such student is Meghana Abhijeet Khanolkar, who recently graduated Class 12 from a reputed CBSE school, and received admission to three well-known US institutions but turned them down in favour of an Indian liberal arts university. She cites the huge financial commitment combined with the unstable political scenario as the reason, stating, "The uncertainty for international students definitely played a big part in my decision because I had no idea if I'd get a visa, and even if I did, there's a chance of it being cancelled after getting there. I didn't want to be stuck with no Indian universities as a backup."