Choppy Waters

The past 18 months have been tumultuous for higher education, and international student and scholar services (ISSS) offices have felt the effects more than many. With the Trump administration proposing and implementing many policy and regulatory changes that affect international students, ISSS offices have found themselves off-balance as they respond.

As a result, office leaders have developed new approaches and strategies to navigate big-picture changes that impact their offices and the students they serve. From working with cross-campus partners and revising existing procedures to anticipating what’s next and caring for staff, four ISSS leaders share what they’ve learned.

Feeling ‘Daily Uncertainty’

By all accounts, the first few months of the new administration in 2025 were chaotic. Samantha Clement, director of international student and scholar services at Texas A&M University, says that in March and April of 2025, her school had 23 students whose Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) records were terminated. But even as such events forced offices to scramble, the bigger question quickly became what would come next—a question that lingers to this day.

“I almost feel the most difficult part is the daily uncertainty,” says Clement. “What is going to change? We can’t predict or plan in a way that we would like, which makes this job particularly difficult.”

Others agree. “The hardest thing to deal with is that we simply don’t know,” says Harlan Smith, director of international student and scholar support at the University of South Carolina. “Things that we expect are not happening, and new things drop with no warning.”

“I almost feel the most difficult part is the daily uncertainty. What is going to change? We can’t predict or plan in a way that we would like, which makes this job particularly difficult.” —Samantha Clement

Smith says that the way in which offices originally responded to the changes made things worse. “Across the spectrum, there was a fair amount of [saying,] ‘OMG,’ and that did not help the situation,” he says. “We didn’t take a moment to reflect. We were reactive, and being reactive in this environment is not helpful to us as a team, to our students, or to international faculty.”

Despite the uncertainty, ISSS leaders are still looking for ways to determine what may be coming. Charter Morris, director of international student and scholar services at the University of Alabama, says that when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) started flagging international students for traffic violations, his office began paying much closer attention to SEVIS records and other tools controlled by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

“The hardest thing to deal with is that we simply don’t know. Things that we expect are not happening, and new things drop with no warning.” —Harlan Smith

“The lesson was to be vigilant and very observant of changes in the tools we use, even minor changes,” he says. “We even take screenshots of records, knowing [the records] could change. Oftentimes, our colleagues are the first to notice small changes to the system that might indicate bigger issues down the road. You have to be very watchful and always double-check.”

Striking a Balance

Leaders say that the lesson they learned from their original actions is to take a pause before rushing into responding to new changes or rumors of them. That approach puts additional pressure on offices as students look for clarity quickly. Leaders have learned to strike a balance between acknowledging students’ worries and waiting to better understand the impact of the changes.

“Validating [students’] anxiety right away while ensuring that the information we had was accurate in the end helped to alleviate unnecessary panic for our students,” says Angie Edwards, director of international student engagement at Davidson College.

“I’m coming out of this being more comfortable [with] not having concrete answers.” —Charter Morris

Being willing to acknowledge that the ISSS office simply does not always know the potential impact of the changes is also important, says Morris. “I’m coming out of this being more comfortable [with] not having concrete answers,” he says.

Clement concurs. “It’s okay to not have an answer,” she says. “Giving wrong information is much worse.”

Leaning on Campus Partners

As the regulatory and policy changes began in 2025, ISSS officers worked to identify which campus resources could help international students during a confusing time. The result of this effort was the cultivation of deeper relationships with cross-campus offices like student counseling services and business, among others.

“We’ve always had good connections [across campus], but the past year and a half has really forced us to work with [those offices] more,” Edwards says. For example, notes Clement, students whose visas were revoked suddenly could no longer work, as well as those who lost funding through the demise of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) faced immediate financial pressures.

“We worked with student business services and the business office to see how we could help students going through this unexpected emergency,” Clement says. The result, she says, was “a better emergency aid process” thanks to much closer cooperation with key campus offices. Counseling services also provided support for students.

“Because there is so much uncertainty for students, it can take a toll on their mental health.” —Angie Edwards

The policy changes have also led to closer ties with other campus offices. “Because there is so much uncertainty for students, it can take a toll on their mental health,” says Edwards. “We have really leaned on our partnership with the counseling center. As a Presbyterian-affiliated institution, we also have a chaplain’s office, which has been wonderful in providing additional support in the face of so much uncertainty.” 

Edwards says she finds herself regularly updating other campus offices on changes in immigration regulations so that they are aware of what international students are experiencing so these offices can best support students.

Evaluating Procedures and Priorities

The sudden policy changes in 2025 caused ISSS offices to look at how well their procedures had prepared them for what they were experiencing. In a few cases, this assessment served as an eye-opener that led to a new strategy.

“At no point in all of my SOPs [standard operating procedures] and crisis management plans did I address major changes to policy,” Morris says. “I need to adapt [to] anticipating, implementing, and communicating these changes. It’s going to be a challenge, because there may be a day when it all swings back. That shift back and forth, whether positive or negative, requires some thoughtful approaches.”

Clement agrees that it’s critical to make sure standard policies and procedures are clear in the current landscape. “What type of services do we want to provide, what are our expectations, what’s in scope and what’s outside—these help us build muscle memory so we can refocus,” she says. “We can use these as our guideposts, and they help us feel a little more stable.”

““ made a strategic decision to pause nonessential programs this year so that we’d have more bandwidth to provide direct student support.” —Angie Edwards

Better serving students during a time of limited resources also means reevaluating priorities. Edwards has pivoted away from some standard programming, such as cultural celebrations, to allow for more open-ended time with students.

“I made a strategic decision to pause nonessential programs this year so that we’d have more bandwidth to provide direct student support,” she says. “We intentionally shifted our programming to community building and student support to build deeper connections with one another and key partners, like counseling staff. The end goal was to foster resilience among the student body.” Edwards says the change is likely temporary, but “we needed it at this point.”

Ensuring Clear Communication

While many communications are carefully crafted with input from senior campus leadership, making sure that ISSS office staff are aware of and engaged with the messages is important.

Morris shares messaging with his staff that he develops with campus leadership on such issues as presidential executive orders prior to posting messages online so that staff members have a chance to respond. However, he says a more collaborative approach is necessary for some of the largest changes looming, citing as an example the proposed rule to replace duration of status for students with a fixed time period.

“This is a complete change on how we have handled F-1 and J-1 student advising for the past almost 40 years,” he notes. “No one in the field now has been working without the current rule. The change is so big that we said, ‘It will not be just me.’ We are all going to read this together so that when we get questions from students, we can answer them. I want all of us to have the same understanding and buy-in.”

Caring for Staff—and for Self

Helping staff through the challenges is crucial to ensuring they can in turn help students. Leaders cite multiple strategies for keeping staff from burning out, from weekly meetings and an open-door policy to the use of flex time and celebrations.

“We focus a lot on resilience, learning how to observe and not absorb,” says Clement. “It’s something that’s really hard to do, especially when you are interacting with students or scholars facing something traumatic.” Clement says that staff are also learning to grow from their experiences, as difficult as they are.

“We’re recognizing that we can’t control everything,” she says. “We can adapt to changes that we would not have chosen and still be able to get through them. That builds a level of confidence in our team.”

“We’re recognizing that we can’t control everything. We can adapt to changes that we would not have chosen and still be able to get through them. That builds a level of confidence in our team.” —Samantha Clement

Edwards says professional networks are especially important for staff during a challenging time. “If you have a strong network, it can really help you survive some of the lows,” she says. “As leaders, we have to ensure that staff at all levels are able to attend a conference and get to know people at other institutions. You have to have more than just the staff on campus that you can lean on. It’s vital not only for professional development but [also] for resiliency.”

Morris adds that it’s not just a matter of taking care of staff: “For those of us in leadership positions, we always have to remember to take care of ourselves. If you don’t, you will get sick and burn out.”

While veteran leaders can draw on their past experience with COVID-19 or even the aftermath of September 11, 2001, new leaders may find themselves struggling to adapt.

Focusing on the Why

In challenging times, those new to international education may question their decision to enter this profession. Their peers recommend that these new leaders recall why they chose the field of international student and scholar services.

“For any new leaders, as long as they keep their focus on the thing that brought them to the field in the first place and really focus on responsiveness to students, they will be on their right path,” says Morris. “They may not get everything right, but if they have their students’ best interests at heart, they will get through it.”

Ultimately, Edwards says that keeping a perspective on why the work matters is the foundation of resilience. 

“It’s probably going to sound a little cliché, but it’s people remembering their why: why did we get into this in the first place, what meaning our work has,” she says. “It’s the student element of our work, but it’s also the global impact of it. If you foster a team culture that allows people to take a deep breath and look at the big picture, it can help in terms of being resilient.”  •