How Franklin & Marshall Keeps Enrolling International Students

Nearly one-fourth of the first-year students who entered Franklin & Marshall College (PA) in the fall of 2018 were from China. That total was far above those of comparable liberal arts colleges and came about despite serious obstacles: the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress were talking up the idea that Chinese students constitute a national security threat—even as educators question such statements. And the challenge was particularly great for liberal arts colleges, given that students from many countries focus only on large universities.