Weekly Writers Round-Up: International Students in the Tech Industry, Online Education Freedom, and Super Bowl Politics

Each week, we’ll be featuring opinion pieces from the alumni and current participants of AF’s Writing Fellows Program. A few highlights from the past week are below. Do you dream of having bylines like these? Applications for the summer session are now open!

How foreign students strengthen Michigan’s tech sector by Sam Peak (Spring 2018) in the Detroit News
You might not know it, but Michigan is losing its international students. A new report by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) found that Michigan colleges and universities have felt the largest drop in international enrollment numbers in the Midwest, losing over 1,000 international students between 2017 and 2018.

These findings come only a few months after reports of ICE arresting roughly 250 students in the Detroit area as part of a sting operation that tricked students into attending a fake university that offered no actual courses and caused them to violate their visa status…

Virginia’s Misguided Attack On Online Education by Preston Cooper (Fall 2015) in Forbes
In his most recent proposed budget, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam announced his intention to end a popular college-grant program for students pursuing a degree online. Proponents argue that the change, which is currently under consideration by the state legislature, will help ensure that state grant money only goes to top-quality schools. Concerns about Virginia taxpayers funding poor-quality programs are valid, but discrimination between online and brick-and-mortar programs is a ham-fisted and shortsighted way to fix this problem…

Trump and Bloomberg Super Bowl ads are a novelty, but are they worth it? by Luke Wachob (Fall 2018) in the Washington Examiner
Millions of people will tune in to watch the NFL’s Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers. Reliably the most-watched television event of the year, advertisers pay huge sums to reach the game’s massive audience. But this year will have a new twist.

Alongside the car commercials and beer ads, political ads will also hit the air. President Trump and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg each spent more than $10 million for 60 seconds of ad time during the game. They will become the first political candidates to air national advertisements during a Super Bowl since those ads have been tracked — and possibly ever…