English
Eyes of the entire world are glued to the US Presidential Elections. With two contestant – Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump running neck to neck in early polls, many are wondering where the scale might tip. The consequence of the election brings different questions for businesses and economies…of USA and the rest of the World. The implication for India is too strong to miss and while the businesses and political debates rage on, we look towards the fate of the lakhs of Indian students who look towards USA for their higher education…with an intent of finding employment in America and consequently living the American Dream.
Every year, thousands of Indian students travel to USA on F1 visas to complete their education. Most of the students go for their Masters in Science (MS) while a huge chunk also vie for places in the top management schools of USA. The reasons for this are many…the excellent educational infrastructure coupled with the prospect of finding employment in USA all add to the advantages of spending the extra money to get an American degree. So, if you wonder how the US Presidential Election’s result might affect the fate of these aspirants, we answer – the Visa Rules and Immigration Policies.
Needless to say, one of the major deciding factors for choosing a country to study abroad are the visa rules. We have seen the adverse effect of Immigration Policy changes with the higher education market of UK. Once a study abroad favorite, UK is now a dull prospect for students planning to go abroad for higher education. With this presidential elections, the same worry now envelopes the minds of thousands and thousands of Indian students who harbor the American Dream and seek to fulfill the same by the path of higher education. So, when it comes to study abroad…who should Indian students root for – Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton?
It’s a tricky answer. Let us look at what these candidates have promised and how it translates for Indian students. Starting with Hillary Clinton, the two major highlights of Clinton’s campaign is increasing the minimum wage and elimination of tipped minimum wage. It is presumed that Indian IT companies will get affected by the implementation of minimum wages as at present the Indian diaspora gets the advantage of working in USA under the H1B visa programme where they get paid much lesser than their counterparts. With a minimum wage, the incentive to hire Indians over natives would be reduced, causatively lowering the demand for Indian graduates. On the other hand, to all families earning less than $85,000 a year, Clinton has promised to provide free graduate college education. She has promised to make graduate education free to students from families earning up to $125,000 a year from 2021. Additionally, she has also vowed to make all community colleges tuition free. For thousands of Indian this could be good news, however, it would be reliant on the inclusiveness of foreign applications to this exemption.
As for Donald Trump…the world is divided. And so is our mind. Donald Trump has been voraciously vocal about Immigration Policy and how he wishes to curb the inflow of immigrants. On the other hand, Donald Trump has been all praises for the Indian community and is keen on inviting Indians into the country. This however gives no recourse to the many students who now await the change and are deciding whether or not to start applying for the many Universities in USA.
Seeing how the scale might tip either way & how both the candidates can cause effective harm and good, our advice to students applying to universities in USA at present is to wait and watch. Education from USA is an expensive affair and in case you are relying heavily on loans, we would urge you to exercise caution. The result is just round the corner and applications have only just started. Wait it out and see what the first call of business is. A good strategy would be to diversify the applications and include other study abroad destinations as well. Since you would have time to make a final call, an option out of the USA would be a wise thing.
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