Parents, students and universities are scrambling across the United States and abroad as schools cancel classes and send students packing because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Students are being told to move back home as soon as possible in the U.S. and internationally. Some are being told to take their belongings with them and leave their rooms empty.

“Everyone is in a panic,” said a staff worker at an Ivy-League university on the East Coast, who asked to remain anonymous.

The list of closed schools that started as a handful three weeks ago is now dozens long and includes the University of California system, New York University, Columbia University, Penn State University and colleges and universities throughout the country that host the largest numbers of international and study-abroad students.

The closing of campuses -- and the moving of classes online -- in the U.S. come shortly after universities shut down their overseas study-abroad programs over the past three weeks, especially in Italy, the No. 2 study-abroad destination of choice for U.S. students after Britain. Italy’s infection rate continues to skyrocket, according to health officials.

While some students have chosen to stay abroad, many have clamored to get on flights just as airlines cancel international trips and ground planes. Parents try to navigate travel plans from across the ocean.

One father posted on social media that his daughter had a one-way ticket from Charles de Gaulle International Airport to the United States. And although she arrived three hours early, she couldn’t get on the flight, describing the scene at the airport as “chaos.” The young woman took a train to London and got a flight out of Heathrow.

Parents in online groups report that some students are returning to the United States without being scanned by health officials for fever or symptoms. They have cited John F. Kennedy, O’Hare and Logan international airports, all major U.S. hubs in New York, Chicago and Boston, respectively.

On March 16 a student at American University in Washington D.C. tested positive for COVID-19.

“The student had traveled within the United States and returned to campus before the end of spring break. As soon as the student presented with symptoms and contacted the Student Health Center, we took immediate action to help the student and protect the community,” the university reported.

“The student was self-isolated in an on-campus room with private bathroom facilities, away from other members of the community, and food and essential personal items were and continue to be delivered.”

For the past four weeks, some students in the U.S. have tested positive for COVID-19, an influenza that emanated from a live-animal market in Wuhan, China, in late December and spread quickly to the nearby population, including university students there. Many Chinese students traveled during winter break inside and outside China. Many of the more than 300,000 Chinese students in the United States returned from China in January after visiting home.

The fatality rate among young people is lower than for people aged 80 years and older, according to the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. The infected can, health officials say, spread the infection with or without symptoms up to 14 days after catching the virus.

Last week, students in residence halls at American University in Washington D.C. were instructed “to leave campus by Monday, March 23 and return to their permanent addresses for the remainder of the semester,” according to its website. Many schools have suspended classes because of spring break

“We strongly encourage students to depart campus as soon as possible to help reduce the potential risk of transmission or spread of COVID-19. We know this is stressful and challenging for students and their families and can cause financial and other hardships.”

Parents erupted online over the frenzy and cost of storage and moving. American University relented on an earlier edict that students return from spring break to pack up. Students there and at other universities have been ordered home to shelter in place until the virus runs its course and people can resume group activities.

“You are insisting that my daughter travel to D.C. where she will be exposed to Coronavirus through travel, eating out and staying at a hotel,” the mother of a sophomore posted online from New York. “Then she will return home to us. If she gets sick engaging in this idiotic endeavor (why does the room need to be empty, nobody is moving in?) she is likely to give it to us, because she is living at home. We will then have an extremely terrifying chance of ending up in an overwhelmed ICU or dead. What possible justification for this could their possibly be?”

Many students will not return to classes this semester and will graduate without ceremony.

"I am actually moving out today. I am about to go to my last in-person lecture before I go to the store to hopefully get more food and hand sanitizer. I am from China so I know how serious COVID-19 can be,” said Mike She, an accounting student at Temple University in Philadelphia, three days ago. “I believe wearing masks is absolutely necessary and Americans should care more about this pandemic than they are right now."

Thomas Zhu contributed to this report.

It’s tough to gain admission to Yale University, and it’s getting even tougher for international students as standout students from around the world set their sights on Yale.

The Yale Dale News, the campus newspaper, takes a look at the situation here.

Read the full story here.

Ruth Chane, a computer science major from Ethiopia, writes about her experiences settling into student life at Whitman College in the U.S. state of Washington.

"The community at Whitman College made sure I felt welcomed even before I stepped foot on campus," she says.

Read her essay here.

In The Student Life, the student newspaper for the Claremont Colleges, a consortium of five liberal art colleges and two graduate schools in Claremont, California, student Rochelle Lu writes about readjusting to her Shanghai home after spending a semester in the United States.

Read the full story here.

Cedarville University in the U.S. state of Ohio says it’s got more than 140 international students representing 44 countries.

Here, the school interviews Jonathan Sutton, director of international student services. He talks about his job and the opportunities for international students on campus.

Read the full article here.

Morehouse College, a private, historically Black liberal arts college in the U.S. state of Georgia, offers a guide for international students interested in attending the school.

Among the tips to apply and thrive at Morehouse:

• Take advantage of the school’s orientation program
• Turn to the school’s Center for Academic Success for tutoring, support and more
• Immerse yourself in campus life via clubs and societies

Read the full article here.

The administration of President Donald Trump said on Monday it will review Columbia University's federal contracts and grants over allegations of antisemitism, which it says the educational institution has shown inaction in tackling.

Rights advocates note rising antisemitism, Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias since U.S. ally Israel's devastating military assault on Gaza began after Palestinian Hamas militants' deadly October 2023 attack.

The Justice Department said a month ago it formed a task force to fight antisemitism. The U.S. Departments of Health and Education and the General Services Administration jointly made the review announcement on Monday.

"The Federal Government's Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is considering Stop Work Orders for $51.4 million in contracts between Columbia University and the Federal Government," the joint statement said.

The agencies said no contracting actions had been taken yet.

"The task force will also conduct a comprehensive review of the more than $5 billion in federal grant commitments to Columbia University."

The agencies did not respond to requests for comment on whether there were similar reviews over allegations of Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias.

Columbia had no immediate comment. It previously said it made efforts to tackle antisemitism.

College protests

Trump has signed an executive order to combat antisemitism and pledged to deport non-citizen college students and others who took part in pro-Palestinian protests.

Columbia was at the center of college protests in which demonstrators demanded an end to U.S. support for Israel due to the humanitarian crisis caused by Israel's assault on Gaza. There were allegations of antisemitism and Islamophobia in protests and counter-protests.

During last summer's demonstrations around the country, classes were canceled, some university administrators resigned and student protesters were suspended and arrested.

While the intensity of protests has decreased in recent months, there were some demonstrations last week in New York after the expulsion of two students at Columbia University-affiliated Barnard College and after New York Governor Kathy Hochul ordered the removal of a Palestinian studies job listing at Hunter College.

A third student at Barnard College has since been expelled, this one related to the occupation of the Hamilton Hall building at Columbia last year.

The Trump administration is opening new investigations into allegations of antisemitism at five U.S. universities including Columbia and the University of California, Berkeley, the Education Department announced Monday.

It's part of President Donald Trump's promise to take a tougher stance against campus antisemitism and deal out harsher penalties than the Biden administration, which settled a flurry of cases with universities in its final weeks. It comes the same day the Justice Department announced a new task force to root out antisemitism on college campuses.

In an order signed last week, Trump called for aggressive action to fight anti-Jewish bias on campuses, including the deportation of foreign students who have participated in pro-Palestinian protests.

Along with Columbia and Berkeley, the department is now investigating the University of Minnesota, Northwestern University and Portland State University. The cases were opened using the department's power to launch its own civil rights reviews, unlike the majority of investigations, which stem from complaints.

Messages seeking comment were left with all five universities.
A statement from the Education Department criticized colleges for tolerating antisemitism after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and a wave of pro-Palestinian protests that followed. It also criticized the Biden administration for negotiating "toothless" resolutions that failed to hold schools accountable.

"Today, the Department is putting universities, colleges, and K-12 schools on notice: this administration will not tolerate continued institutional indifference to the wellbeing of Jewish students on American campuses," said Craig Trainor, the agency's acting assistant secretary for civil rights.

The department didn't provide details about the inquiries or how it decided which schools are being targeted. Presidents of Columbia and Northwestern were among those called to testify on Capitol Hill last year as Republicans sought accountability for allegations of antisemitism. The hearings contributed to the resignation of multiple university presidents, including Columbia's Minouche Shafik.

An October report from House Republicans accused Columbia of failing to punish pro-Palestinian students who took over a campus building, and it called Northwestern's negotiations with student protesters a "stunning capitulation."

House Republicans applauded the new investigations. Representative Tim Walberg, chair of the Education and Workforce Committee, said he was "glad that we finally have an administration who is taking action to protect Jewish students."

Trump's order also calls for a full review of antisemitism complaints filed with the Education Department since Oct. 7, 2023, including pending and resolved cases from the Biden administration. It encourages the Justice Department to take action to enforce civil rights laws.

Last week's order drew backlash from civil rights groups who said it violated First Amendment rights that protect political speech.

The new task force announced Monday includes the Justice and Education departments along with Health and Human Services.

"The Department takes seriously our responsibility to eradicate this hatred wherever it is found," said Leo Terrell, assistant attorney general for civil rights. "The Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is the first step in giving life to President Trump's renewed commitment to ending anti-Semitism in our schools."

The Times of India breaks down the most popular subjects for international students to study in the U.S.

STEM and business lead the pack. Read the full story here. (January 2025)

U.S. News & World report addresses some of the misconceptions about U.S. colleges and universities, including the difficulty of getting a visa.

Read the full story here. (January 2025)

A British student who did a year abroad at Bowling Green State University in Ohio talks about adjusting to life in America in a TikTok video, Newsweek magazine reports.

Among the biggest surprises? Portion sizes, jaywalking laws and dorm room beds.

Read the full story here. (December 2024)

Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health reaches out to international students by detailing the international student experience at the school.

Learn more about housing, life in Boston and more here.

China issued its first national action plan to build a "strong education nation" by 2035, which it said would help coordinate its education development, improve efficiencies in innovation and build a "strong country."

The plan, issued Sunday by the Communist Party's central committee and the State Council, aims to establish a "high quality education system" with accessibility and quality "among the best in the world."

The announcement was made after data on Friday showed China's population fell for a third consecutive year in 2024, with the number of deaths outpacing a slight increase in births, and experts cautioning that the downturn will worsen in the coming years.

High childcare and education costs have been a key factor for many young Chinese opting out of having children, at a time when many face uncertainty over their job prospects amid sluggish economic growth.

"By 2035, an education power will be built," the official Xinhua news agency said, adding that China would explore gradually expanding the scope of free education, increase "high-quality" undergraduate enrolment, expand postgraduate education, and raise the proportion of doctoral students.

The plan aims to promote "healthy growth and all-round development of students," making sure primary and secondary school students have at least two hours of physical activity daily, to effectively control the myopia, or nearsightedness, and obesity rates.

"Popularizing" mental health education and establishing a national student mental health monitoring and early warning system would also be implemented, it said.

It also aims to narrow the gap between urban and rural areas to improve the operating conditions of small-scale rural schools and improve the care system for children with disabilities and those belonging to agricultural migrant populations.

The plan also aims to steadily increase the supply of kindergarten places and the accessibility of preschool education.

The Open Notebook, a site focusing on educating journalists who cover science, has complied a list of U.S. graduate program financial aid information for international students.

Read it here.