Immigration News: Students Fleeing U.S. to Canadian Universities Because of Election
Just like any election there are people that are unsatisfied with the results. Most recently in the United States 2016 election there has been an extreme increase of upset college students. This is actually not surprising considering if only millennials (ages 18-34) voted in the election Donald Trump would have a mere 23 electoral votes to Hillary Clintons 504 votes. With this statistic it makes sense that the amount of American application to Canadian colleges have skyrocketed after Trump’s victory.
Colleges across Canada have said that the applications and website traffic from the U.S. has been surging since Trump’s victory November 8th. Some have said that this is because Canada has been targeting Americans to attend their schools but the colleges said that the interest has spiked way beyond their expectations.
Canada already has a notion for being a much safer place for women but now many women are leaving America for a safer land. Campus sexual assault has been a large topic for women who are scared because of the possibility of Trump’s administration easing the enforcement of federal rules against sexual assault. Lara Godoff, one of the women concerned about her safety, said that she scrapped any notion of attending college in the U.S. after the election. “If we live in a country where so many people could elect Donald Trump, then thats not a country I want to live in,” she said.
Now some people may say that is very extreme but the facts say that the applications to the University of Toronto from American students have jumped 70 percent since last year. Other Canadian universities have seen increases of 20 percent or more. The senior manager of global undergraduate recruitment at McGill University in Montreal stated that she believes many of the students are also drawn by the schools diversity and the affordable cost of living in Canada. The vice provost for international education at the University of Buffalo is expecting a shortage of international students in their New York college. He said “It’s going to be perhaps a little bit rocky for a couple years.”
High school senior, Rebekah Robinson from Baltimore, is already enrolled for fall 2016 at the University of Toronto joked that she was fleeing the country to escape Trump. “I really liked the school,” she said. “I liked the programs they offered, and I thought it was a great fit for me, so the president and the election just kind of played a small factor in it.”
Typically Americans have not thought of Canada as a destination for college. In 2014, Canada drew only 9,000 American students compared to the 57,000 Chinese students. With the newest election and international ties, Canada is estimating to double the number of foreign students by 2022. Although next fall is a while away and its hard to know how many U.S. students will attend Canadian colleges they are expecting to see more Americans on campus than ever before.
