WGU Layoffs

[sacredrain]

3. International Students: why should they accept international students? It is not a requirement to accept international students, this is an issue that is being talked about on all campuses these days because of the processing and red tape that has increased throughout the years. It can be a nightmare to onboard international students at times, people have no idea.

If you are an American citizen with an American HS diploma/GED (or even a US Bachelor's, in the case of students who want a grad degree) who just happens to be living abroad because that's where your spouse/family/work is, it's a bit silly that WGU doesn't allow you to attend. Other schools have no issues with admitting students who live internationally.

I'm not saying that WGU needs to deal with visas. There are other schools that allow students outside of the US but make it very clear that they won't deal with visas. All I'm saying is that at least allow American citizens, regardless of physical location, to attend.

WGU does accept some American students who are overseas. Overseas stationed military students and their families can attend WGU. 
"At the present time, WGU is accepting applications only from individuals living in the United States. (The exceptions are U.S. active-duty military personnel and their families at overseas installations and individuals living in Guam, Puerto Rico, or the U.S. Virgin Islands.)"

Where I currently work, while they do accept US citizens who live abroad, if you have lived abroad for more than a year, then you are subject to out of state tuition rates, even if you once lived in the state, this is due to the states "Residency Determination" Policy. Residency also determines if you receive in state financial aid as well, as the state has some educational grants and loan programs, that are separate from the federal government programs. WGU has an NC affiliated university here in NC, where students in this state qualify for additional financial aid from the state.

So say a student from NC is wrongly flagged via the states residency determination policy as having lived internationally. At that point it is up to the student to determine his or her residency and if the student was going to utilize state financial aid, the student would be in limbo because they may not qualify for the additional financial aid if they needed it at not just WGU but any other university in the state. So this could just be one example as to why they are not accepting international students.