US enrollment of international students declined for the second year in a row, sending waves of unease across American colleges and universities, which see students from abroad as a buffer¹ against the falling number of US high-school students graduating each year.

美国大学国际学生的入学率连续第二年下滑，令美国各大学深感不安。在美国高中毕业生人数连年下降的情况下，美国大学都把海外留学生视为缓冲力量。

The number of new international students enrolling² at American institutions fell by 6.6% during the 2017-18 academic year, on top of a 3.3% decline the year before, according to a report by the Institute of International Education released Tuesday.

据美国国际教育学会11月13日发布的报告称，2017-18学年，美国各大学新入学国际学生的数量减少了6.6%，而上一年的下降率为3.3%。

The drop takes the number of new students back to the level seen three or four years ago.

这导致美国各大学新入学国际学生的数量退回到三四年前的水平。

At the University of Central Missouri, foreign enrollment surged to 2600 in 2016 before plummeting³ to just 650 this year, according to data obtained by The AP.

美联社获得的数据显示，在中央密苏里大学，外国学生的入学人数在2016年激增至2600人，今年则骤降至650人。

At Purdue University, one of the nation's biggest hubs for international students, total foreign enrollment fell by 2 percent this year.

而作为美国最大的国际学生接收地，普渡大学今年外国学生的总数下降了2%。

Meanwhile, the total number of international students in the US plus those working here on a student visa rose by just 1.5% this year. That was down from average annual growth of 6.1% over the past decade, a period during which enrollment of international students doubled.

与此同时，美国的国际学生总数加上持学生签证在美国工作的人今年仅增加1.5%，低于过去10年平均每年6.1%的增长率，过去10年招收的国际学生的人数增加了一倍。

International enrollment fell by 4 percent following the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, according to data provided by the institute.

根据该机构提供的数据，在2001年“911”恐怖袭击之后，美国的国际学生入学人数下降了4%。

Similar to previous years, the largest numbers of students came from China, India and South Korea, which together made up 56.1 percent of all international students.

和前些年相仿，美国大学国际学生的最大来源国是中国、印度和韩国，来自这三个国家的国际学生占到总人数的56.1%。

The US is also losing students to English-speaking countries such as Canada, Australia and the UK, which have all seen growth in the past year.

在招收国际学生方面，美国还输给了加拿大、澳大利亚和英国等英语国家，过去一年，这些国家的留学生数量都在增长。

Canada reported a 20 percent jump in 2017, while Australia saw a 12 percent increase.

加拿大2017年的留学生人数增长了20%，澳大利亚增长了12%。

Students from abroad are still flocking to the coasts, but are less interested in the South and Midwest.

海外留学生仍在涌向美国沿海地区，他们对南部和中西部不那么感兴趣。

Several factors are driving the decrease. Visa and immigration policy changes by the Trump⁴ administration have deterred⁵ some international students from enrolling, college administrators⁶ and immigration analysts⁷ said.

有多种原因导致了国际学生人数的下降。美国大学的管理人员和移民分析师认为，特朗普政府签证和移民政策的改变使一些国际学生打消了去美国留学的念头。

A strong dollar has made US college tuition relatively⁸ more expensive, Canadian and European universities are competing fiercely for the same students and headlines about mass shootings also may have deterred some students, said Allan Goodman, president of IIE.

国际教育学会主席艾伦·古德曼说，美元走强使得美国大学学费相对更昂贵，加拿大和欧洲的大学也在争抢国际学生，竞争十分激烈，关于美国大规模枪击案的新闻报道也让一些学生望而却步。

“Everything matters from safety, to cost, to perhaps perceptions of visa policy,” Goodman said.

古德曼说：“各种因素都有，安全、费用、或许还有对签证政策的看法。”

“We’re hearing that they have choices. We’re hearing that there’s competition from other countries.”

他说：“我们听说，学生们不止有一个选择；我们也听说，还有来自其他国家的竞争。”

The shift is due to a combination of politics, geography and branding, said Alejandra Sosa Pieroni, an international recruitment expert with Ruffalo Noel Levitz, a company that consults with colleges to improve enrollment.

美国招生咨询公司拉法洛-诺埃尔-勒维茨公司的国际招生专家亚力杭德拉·索莎·诺埃尔说，这一变化是政治、地理和品牌推广等多种因素造成的。

“Students are not feeling welcome in some states, so they are looking beyond those states and heading to places where they will feel welcome,” she said.

“学生在某些州感觉不那么受欢迎，所以，他们就绕开那些州，前往他们感觉受欢迎的州。”她说。

Foreign students are big business: They pumped $42 billion into US college and university coffers in the 2017-18 school year alone.

国际学生给美国大学带来了大笔收入：仅在2017-18学年，他们就为美国各大学贡献了420亿美元（约合2916亿元人民币）。

International students have become an important funding source for American colleges as traditional revenue sources, such as state funding, come under pressure. Most undergraduate foreign students do not qualify for need-based financial aid and must pay close to full tuition and fees to attend US schools.

由于政府资助等传统的经费来源受限，国际学生成为美国大学重要的资金来源。大多数就读本科的国际学生不符合申请经济资助的条件，必须全额支付学费和其他费用。

Carol Spradling, director of the school of computer science at Northwest Missouri State University, said international enrollment began declining precipitously two years ago, following a “perfect storm” that included President Trump’s election with his tough talk on immigration and the shooting of an Indian immigrant worker in Olathe, Kan. The downturn, she said, had a huge impact on her school’s finances.

美国西北密苏里州立大学计算机学院院长卡萝尔·斯普拉德林说，两年前，特朗普当选总统并就移民问题发表强硬言论，一名印度工程师在堪萨斯州奥拉西被枪杀，国际学生的入学率开始急剧下降。她说，国际学生下降对她所在学校的财务产生了巨大影响。

The report also found that the number of US students studying abroad ticked up by 2 percent last year, continuing eight years of slow but steady growth. Europe remained the top destination, followed by Latin America and Asia.

报告还发现，美国学生出国留学的人数去年增加了2%，连续8年缓慢但稳定地增长。欧洲仍是美国学生出国留学的第一选择，紧随其后的是拉丁美洲和亚洲。