It’s been a stressful year for many international students. The Trump administration is canceling visas, re-writing rules, & monitoring students’ social media. WNIJ’s Peter Medlin sat down with a Northern Illinois University student from Nigeria to talk about life on a visa.
In the fall of 2023, the semester was in full swing, the weather was cold, and Babatola Arogundade was more stressed than ever.
“I was missing home," he said. "I was struggling with food. I was struggling with the weather. I just needed a break."
He thought about quitting. Mental health struggles are common for international students. To make matters worse, Arogundade came to the US to study mental health. He’s a doctoral student in NIU’s Counselor Education and Supervision program.
Arogundade wanted to study in the US to build bridges; to connect Western counseling theories and techniques with African psychological principles. But all he could do that fall was keep his head above water.
It was his first time in the U.S., and he'd faced a grueling visa process just to get here.
“You go to an embassy in Nigeria, a U.S. embassy," he said, "and you see over 5,000 people there applying for a visa. How many are going to get approved? Maybe 100."
But he says the challenges start way before you enter the embassy. First, you have to apply to a school, interview, and get accepted.
“Then," he said, "not all admission comes with full funding."
Can you pay tuition and fees? It’s especially tough when over 60% of Nigerians are multidimensionally poor -- meaning they experience poverty across several indicators like health and living conditions.
Arogundade was accepted at NIU, but says he was initially only offered a 10-hour-per-week graduate assistantship, even though he was eligible for 20 hours.
Without a full scholarship, he had to raise nearly $20,000 to prove to the embassy he could pay for college.
“I started soliciting for money to borrow from different families, different friends," said Arogundade, "to ensure I have the sufficient amount. It wasn't easy.”
It took two months. Then, he had to secure an interview at the embassy.
“In Nigeria," he said, "it's more like a sport. It's like a competition."
He created a WhatsApp group with other students, taking turns watching the website, day and night, in case an open appointment pops up. It takes days or weeks, and Arogundade didn’t have much time.
“We are kind of religious back home," said Arogundade, "so people pray."
Finally, a date came up. July 5. He got it. And, in the meantime, he got more good news. The university could now offer the full 20-hour graduate assistantship. He didn’t need to borrow as much money and that raised his approval odds.
But now he had to update key documents. It took days of calls and emails, and he got it just in time for his five-hour drive to Lagos for the visa interview.
“I was going to risk it," he said, "but I was scared, right? It's either yes or no, and the interview with the consulate is less than a minute. It's not as if they interview you for 30 minutes, it's less than a minute."
Why are you going to the U.S.? How are you paying for school? He rehearsed his answers, because he knew one stutter could cost him.
Thankfully, he was confident. He says he saw the interviewer reach for the white approval paper as he answered. It was a massive relief, but now he only had a few weeks to get a passport, book a flight, find an apartment in DeKalb, and say goodbye to his family.
“I left Nigeria on July 30," said Arogundade. "I entered [the U.S.] the 31st, then I resumed work on August 1. So, there was no rest for me."
A few months in, he was exhausted. He thought about transferring or quitting.
International students are held to a high standard: GPA minimums, full class loads, only working in jobs related to their study. It’s difficult, especially as you’re adjusting to a new school and a new country.
His first semester seeing clients in the U.S. showed him how hard it would be to build bridges between Western and African approaches.
“I remember when my supervisor came," he said, "and talked to my professor here about the kind of approach I'm using, as if I'm not competent enough. I remember them calling my department trying to talk about what kind of struggle I am going through. I think I felt a bit betrayed.”
He said he’d always get assigned Black clients, and there was a misconception that -- because he’s Black -- they had the same experiences, even though he’s not African American -- he’s African.
“The first year," said Arogundade, "was really, really tough -- and it ignited my research."
That project was understanding the supervision experience of Black counselors with multiple minority identities: you can be Black and an international student or Black and disabled. Arogundade says all of those identities intersect and should be acknowledged in supervision.
He earned a grant to fund the research in 2024. He says he found his participants were forced to do a lot of extra labor.
“Over-explaining to their supervisor about their identity," he said, "and also trying to protect themselves from their supervisor, and also protect their client from their supervisor because, once you also can't trust your supervisor regarding certain things, you want to protect your client."
He’s now expanding that research for his dissertation -- and expanding beyond just Black counselors to all counselors with multiple minority identities. Arogundade also recently received the Illinois Counselor Educators and Supervisors’ “Emerging Counseling Educator” award.
While he’s personally settled in at NIU over the past two years, life on a student visa has become more challenging. This year, the Trump administration revoked, then reinstated scores of student visas across the country, including several at Northern Illinois.
The administration said it would “review” all 55 million visa holders for potential violations. They’re also vetting social media accounts. Visa applicants are required to submit their usernames on any accounts used in the past five years. Labor unions filed a lawsuit alleging the government uses automated and AI tools to scan social media and surveil visa holders’ activity.
International enrollment fell nearly 20% at NIU this fall. Provost Laurie Elish-Piper said some students were unable to get their visas in time to start the semester. More visas are now subject to additional review called “administrative processing” -- which can take months.
Arogundade says he knows several international students with full-ride scholarships who were denied after administrative processing.
“They don't tell you why you have been denied. That is the frustrating part," he said. "So, you don't know, maybe you put something on social media 10 years ago. You don't know. But when you get denied, you are just told to reapply. What are you going to improve?”
Even if you’re approved, processing delays could cost you a spot in a program or graduate assistant position.
Rule changes have also affected Arogundade specifically. His initial visa was for two years.
“Most African countries don't give two-year visas anymore," he said. "Let me use my country [Nigeria] as a case study. Now, they give a three-month visa."
The new, short visas also only allow a single entry. So, if you leave the country -- whether for vacation or for university research -- it invalidates your visa, and you have to start over.
With all of the new changes, he wonders if he could have made it to NIU if he was going through the visa process now.
“I don't think," he said, "I will have that luck."
He says it makes him sad because he sees how much international students contribute to their schools and the economy. Arogundade knows a lot of students who live in fear that their visa could get ripped away at any moment.
“For me, I don't live with fear," he said. "I try to enjoy each day as it comes. That's the only way I'm not just in that surviving mode — I'm in the living mode. Life comes at us very fast, so why not enjoy each day? So, policies will come. I try to still stay optimistic.”
He hopes to graduate within a year and, eventually, return to Nigeria to keep building bridges between cultures and break down the barriers that keep people from getting the help they need.
