Chancellor Malatras Issues Letter to U.S. Department of Homeland Security Strongly Opposing Proposed Changes to Student Visa Rules

October 28, 2020

Proposed Stipulation Reducing Visa Term Would Jeopardize the Futures of More than 20,000 SUNY Students, Risk More than $400 Million in Tuition and Associated Revenue Losses, and Damage Local Economies

Chancellor Malatras: "SUNY opposes in the strongest possible terms the Department's arbitrary and capricious effort to disenfranchise international students and exchange visitors."

Albany, NY – State University of New York Chancellor Jim Malatras issued a letter to U.S. Department of Homeland Security Acting Regulatory Chief Sharon Hageman strongly opposing a proposed rule change that would impact more than 20,000 international students across SUNY’s 64 colleges and universities. The new rule would stipulate that student visas can be granted for a maximum of four years, creating unnecessary, potentially destructive roadblocks to higher education for countless students studying at colleges and universities across the country.

The full text of the letter is available online.

About the State University of New York
The State University of New York is the largest comprehensive system of higher education in the United States, and more than 95 percent of all New Yorkers live within 30 miles of any one of SUNY’s 64 colleges and universities. Across the system, SUNY has four academic health centers, five hospitals, four medical schools, two dental schools, a law school, the country’s oldest school of maritime, the state’s only college of optometry, and manages one US Department of Energy National Laboratory. In total, SUNY serves about 1.4 million students amongst its entire portfolio of credit- and non-credit-bearing courses and programs, continuing education, and community outreach programs. SUNY oversees nearly a quarter of academic research in New York. Research expenditures system-wide are nearly $1.1 billion in fiscal year 2023, including significant contributions from students and faculty. There are more than three million SUNY alumni worldwide, and one in three New Yorkers with a college degree is a SUNY alum. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunities, visit suny.edu.


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