Foreign Students at a US University Should Transfer to Another Country

Get out while you still can!

It is truly frightening reading about the treatment of Universities under the Trump administration. First they defunded scientific and medical research. Now they are attacking students attending University from other countries on a Student visa or even with a Green Card. In the first instance people will not get cancer treatment, and my husband is being forced out of his job at the same time that social security is being hit and our investments are diminishing. Students are however, in a different kind of danger. Not the danger of being old and destitute, but of being young and physically and emotionally scarred for life.

The Trump administration is pulling people off of the streets in broad daylight. The latest story I have read is about doctoral student Rumeysa Ozturk, aTurkish National going to an Iftar. That is a meal Muslims have after fasting all day during the holy month of Ramadan. That means Ms. Ozturk would not have eaten or drunk all day, and getting her before eating and drinking would probably have led to increased bewilderment on her part. Preventing her from getting sustenance is torture. Also, putting her in a horrible prison where we do not know whether they follow her dietary habits is cruel as well. This would be true for any Muslim student, and taking them during Ramadan seems intentional.

However, it is not just Muslims who are getting bad treatment from ICE. We have read about a French Professor being denied entrance to the USA because of words on his phone which were critical of Trump but not threatening. If ICE is treating any dislike of Trump as a potential danger for Trump, no one has a chance to come into the USA except extreme Right wing people. Ms. Ozturk did not have any history of dangerous activity. She posted an article supporting the people of Gaza. That is protected speech for people in the USA, not just citizens. It is an important part of the learning process to try out ideas in a public forum. However, those words are what IC is using for justification for snatching her from the street. We know that more people are disappearing from University Campuses. Not everyone is getting deported though, some are being detained in these horrid prisons in Louisiana and elsewhere. Who is making money off of this? I assume a Trump ally and donor.

I have read that a Louisiana ICE detainee prison contractor GEO has been making money off of paying detainees $1 a day to do basically slave labor, but it is in the courts right now, because the state minimum wage is $11. The Southern states want to continue a practice that they have had since the end of the civil war, of imprisoning people with or without legitimate charges for unduly harsh sentences and using them as slave labor, with token payment. The thirteenth amendment of our constitution allows prisoners to be used as slaves, an apparent concession to the unruly racist White southerners who were so angered by the loss of income and dominion over others that they got from slavery. A brutal system still. None of this should sound worthwhile. There are other places where students can still go and exercise their voices, although they are disappearing.

Where to go? I would look at a number of factors, and none of them have to do with world rankings of Universities. I assume given the Trump administration’s Project 2025 goals, these rankings will shift anyway. But a lot of the world does not care about that. You should not either. You should care about where you can be safe, where they speak a language you know or one that you are willing to learn, and where you can afford it. Hopefully a country that has better protected free speech.

There are of course the English speaking countries of Canada, England, Ireland, Scotland, New Zealand, and Australia. There are also the English speaking countries of the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Botswana, Camaroon, Eswatini, Fiji, Gambia, Grenada, Guyana, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Kirabati, Lesotho, Liberia, Micronesia, Nigeria, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and Grenadines, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

However, if you know other languages there are a whole world of other countries to go to. And, if you are willing to learn another language there are even more countries to consider. I currently spend most of my time in Germany. Many of my friends here are Americans. While we usually speak English when just amongst ourselves, there are also social occasions where we speak German. Thus, I have noticed a wide range of language levels, and most of them have attended university here. For German University they want a level C1 of language, but for graduate studies you may be able to do your program in English. That is true of other countries as well.

There is the global cost of living index that gives you a sense of how expensive a country is in comparison to the US and your home country. One can usually find videos that student have produced that might give you a sense of the costs for studying in a particular country. I see several students funding their educations with videos that they produce, and we found them really helpful when my daughter was applying to University in Germany from the USA. There is also financial aid.

I would consider what the tuition is. The US has ridiculously high tuition in most of the private universities. I am able to retire early because my daughter is going to university in Germany so that is less money we need to earn. Her university charges no tuition, but there is a semester fee. Hers has been around 300€. It includes a transportation pass, and discounts all over the country with your student ID, like the reduced price at the Mensas (cafeterias with good food) and copy shops, perhaps movie theaters and stores offer discounts. Here is a list of tuitions and cost of living for foreign students in European countries, as well as whether one is allowed to work on this website.

You might want to find out what the work opportunities are and the financial aid of these countries as well. I know that Germany has been quite generous in providing financial aid to students. Also, applications are free, however, one has to have ones documents translated into German or English officially, if they are not in one of the languages already. And, there is a waiver of other costs if one can prove hardship. Here is a list of Free colleges for International students, which includes some really low cost tuitions. Here is another list which includes an African country and some low costing countries. Putting these lists together here is a list of the countries that offer tuition free education for students who are not citizens of a European Union country. Putting these lists together we get for truly free tuition for foreign students Argentina, Brazil, the Czech Republic (if the degree is in Czech), Germany, Iceland, Kenya, Panama, and Uruguay. The list grows longer if one seeks low tuition as well.

Another important consideration for everyone is how safe is the country in which you want to attend university. Here is a measure of the relative safety from violence people have in the countries of the world. It is the global peace Index 2025. This switches from time to time. When we first moved to Germany it was at place 15, but now it is on place 20. It still varies from place to place, which large cities being less safe and small towns being safer. Any country in the green zone on the list, is considered relatively safe. I assume that the United States, which is 312, will be dropping as people get upset in the US, and if there are ongoing conflicts and perhaps violence. In fact, the fact that you can be snatched off the streets by people in balaclavas who do not identify themselves should lower the safety of the country be a lot. Anyone in the US can now go out and pretend to be ICE and kidnap young women and men and make them disappear and there is no accountability for it.

However, you might have other considerations for being safe like your religious identity. If you are Muslim you should be looking for countries that are safe for Muslims. Here is a list of 8 countries considered welcoming to Muslim students. Here is a general list of countries where Muslims are the safest. It is interesting that Canada is not on the list, but Quebec City is. If you are Jewish, you should be looking for countries where you will feel safe. There is no guarantee that Trump’s policies and harassment of Muslims is making Jewish students feel safer. Here is a list that says where Jews in general feel safer in Europe. However, I did read an article that says the USA is the safest country for Jews. That is a low bar. None of my Jewish friends in the USA feels safe that I have talked with about it. I did not find such a list about Jewish students. Here is a list of countries considered safe for Jews to travel to. For both Muslims and Jews, I would recommend connecting with Muslim and Jewish students on campuses in the countries in which you are considering studying.

Sexual identity is another consideration. If you are Trans or Gay, you might want to find a country where you will feel safe as well. Countries that welcome LGBTQ+ students are becoming more frequent. So, make a list of these as well. Here is a list of 12 countries in which LGBTQIA+ students feel safe. Here is a list of the rights for LGBT people in the world.

If you have health problems of any sort, you are going to want to know how good your your access to medical care will be. Here is a list of countries in order of health care rankings. However if you have an illness like asthma you might want to pick a country with clean air. Here is a list of the countries with the cleanest air. There are not many. You might also need to consider accessibility. Here is a list of top 10 countries for abilities. I know that the city I live in in Germany has no subways or elevated trains. People are getting around on trams and buses. All are equipped for people to come on with wheel chairs. In fact, they offer training days to help people in wheel chairs to safely navigate getting on and off, and I am regularly traveling with people in wheel chairs on the bus that I take to the city center. I also have noticed that dorms are equipped with sections for students who are deaf or blind as well, to live in integrated ability communities. I am not saying there are not challenges. I know a complaint is how many people park on the sidewalk making it hard for a wheelchair or stroller to get down the block. There are signs, but more needs to be done to change it. I think huge fines might do it.

I am sure there are a plethora of other topics that a student would like to learn about, and I hope I have provided some food for thought. My daughter has a friend who is a dual US/German citizen like my daughter. She did not get any support from her high school in the US for applying abroad, in fact she was discouraged from doing it. My daughter’s high school tried to be helpful but the people they pointed us to had no idea how to apply abroad. I discuss her application process here in my article Study Abroad.

Her friend is having a different experience because she has already spent 2 years in a US university so she is applying as a transfer student and will not need to get into a Studienkolleg. She has been taking a German class online this year to help her prepare for the Goethe Institute test to get her C1 proficiency certificate. She has taken the class at the DANK Haus School in Chicago. Then she has to send her grades and this certificate to apply to the universities of her choice. She is choosing psychology which is a harder to get into course than the humanities that my daughter is studying, so they require a certain GPA. Each University is different. An advantage of coming from a US university is that people tend too have much higher grades than they do in Germany, so that means your GPA is higher than most German students who are applying. She will have to submit her grades and her C1 certificate by mid July. She should be able to meet these deadlines. People who cannot meet them, should apply for summer semester which is what starts the following year right after the first semester is over. It is mid-April for my daughter, and earlier for some other people, and usually goes to July.

Each country will have its own deadlines and they may not fit up with the US schedule, so you will have to learn them and make it work.

Another option, if you are willing to pay tuition as one does in the USA, is that many US universities have campuses abroad. Here is a list of American Universities abroad. Here is the list from the Association of American International Colleges and Universities. I am sure that the long arm of the Trump administration can still reach to those campuses, and remove funding if it does not comply with their anti-diversity initiatives, and removal of students Trump does not like. However, it does not mean you will end up in an ICE prison or being deported because that long an arm is too long, unless the country you choose is also run by autocrats. I would avoid countries like that. In any case, going to an American University abroad might be a possible transition until you learn a new language if English does not suffice. In Germany there is BARD college in Berlin. A friend’s daughter will go there for at least a semester, but one can attend a 4-year degree program there. There is also the Anglo-American University in Prague which a friend of my daughter’s attends. A former assistant teacher went to graduate school at The Charles University of Prague as well. Both of them like their experiences. The daughter of a high school teacher at my daughter’s school attends the Franklin University in Lugano, Switzerland. A magically beautiful place.

There are a lot of options in the world. Instead of waiting for the US to pull your visa, like they claim to have done with around 300 immigrants so far, you should take a stand and find another country to go. Why should the economy get your dollars? Apparently this year, the United States reached an all time high in the number of international students with 1.1 million. It makes no sense for people to put money into an economy that they cannot count on. While ICE appears to be targeting Muslim students. There is no cultural background that makes one totally safe. Not even for US citizens. Any action can be suspect. Any posting on social media can be seen as compromising. Students are being spied on by AI and the US government. This is not a welcoming action. A book called When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, by Judith Kerr, has been a guidepost to me. It is a fictionalized version of her own story, almost a creative non-fiction version of her story leaving Berlin to live in other countries getting ahead of the Nazis, and getting to safety. To me it is as much a story about making your own path, and listening to your instincts about when it is time to leave. Louisiana ICE detention centers are horrid places, so it Guantanamo and so is the concentration camp-like prison in El Salvador where around 200 Venezuelans have been sent. Do not be in a position to join them. You can continue your education elsewhere. At most it is a setback, not the end. At best it will be a new safer option where you get to meet good people. Please get out and be safe.

A reader shared this information as well.

The University of British Columbia will accept US graduate students. https://www.grad.ubc.ca/us-applicant-week

https://erudera.com/resources/countries-with-free-education-for-international-students/

https://expatsi.com/communities/students/29-countries-with-free-college-tuition/

https://lailluminator.com/2025/03/20/ice-detain/#:~:text=The%20GEO%20Group%20owns%20and,ICE%20Processing%20Center%20in%20Basile.

https://studyinternational.com/news/most-muslim-friendly-countries-world/

https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/global-acceptance-index-lgbt/

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/best-healthcare-in-the-world

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-28/what-we-know-tufts-university-student-detained-by-ice-agents/105107664

https://www.accreditedschoolsonline.org/resources/which-countries-offer-free-college/

https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/13th-amendment

https://www.equaldex.com/equality-index

https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/12/14/only-seven-countries-in-the-world-breathe-safe-air-three-of-them-are-in-europe

https://www.gooverseas.com/blog/lgbtqia-friendly-study-abroad-destinations

https://www.newsweek.com/ice-arrest-tufts-college-student-rumeysa-ozturk-2051896

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-administration-takes-aim-immigrant-students-rcna198346

https://www.visionofhumanity.org/maps/#/