According to the report, Harrisburg University built its finances on students applying for visas

A new report from a national news outlet shows how a small group of American colleges, including Harrisburg University, have built their financial foundations on the one-two punch of the American dream and one of the many bottlenecks in the U.S. immigration system.

The article, published this week by Bloomberg News, shows how successful the schools have been in catering to people who came here on student visas, often already working in their chosen career path, but have not yet been able to find skilled workers Visas that would allow them to stay in America long-term.

The schools, including Harrisburg, are offering them a workaround in which they remain in the United States by enrolling in master’s degree programs, largely taught remotely, under a program that allows a worker to stay can if they receive additional, vocational schooling, the report says.

According to Bloomberg report:

“Harrisburg is one of a few dozen little-known U.S. schools that offer a special graduate program that essentially functions like a two-year work visa in disguise. By taking advantage of a federal on-the-job training scheme, people from India, China and other countries can work full-time while taking most courses online and showing up in person only a few times a year.

“For schools, these programs, known as Day 1 CPT, are a way to make money from an increasingly chaotic immigration system. The chances of winning the annual lottery for a long-term skilled worker visa have become longer in recent yearsas highly qualified professionals flock to the US while lawmakers keep supply limited. This leads to tens of thousands of employees looking for alternatives.”

Harrisburg University officials said in a series of releases following the Bloomberg report that the Day 1 CPT program – short for Curricular Practical Training – helps students, the school and the economy and that it will be an ongoing focus become.

“We are proud to be among a small group of recognized and accredited universities making this option available to interested students,” Harrisburg University spokeswoman Jessica Warren said Friday in a response to emailed questions from PennLive .

According to data from the Bloomberg report, around 76 percent of Harrisburg’s student body in 2022 consisted of such foreign graduate students, or 2,360 out of a total of 3,082.

While Harrisburg’s master’s programs are fully accredited, the Bloomberg story spoke to several students who acknowledged that they enter them primarily as an immigration workaround and that many drop out once they get a coveted H-1B visa allows employees to stay for up to nine years.

The story included comments from a Pakistani-born man, identified only as F., who described meeting some of his classmates during one of the nine in-person Saturday seminars that HU students are required to attend in person.

“99 percent of them had a similar case,” the student said. “They didn’t get their name in the lottery. They had great jobs, worked for great companies and simply wanted to free up more time. No one was there to get a degree.”

(It should be noted that the university has always made it clear that the vast majority of its graduate students are distance learners. According to the most recent data on HU from the National Center for Education Statistics, 93 percent of graduate students are considered enrolled “exclusively” in distance learning programs.)

The program was a tremendous financial boost for the University of Harrisburg.

HU, the Bloomberg report said, was struggling financially when it launched its Day 1 CPT program in 2014, and it quickly became a financial bonanza, leaving the cash-strapped university with millions in surplus dollars achieved.

As of 2022, it had the fifth-largest such program in the country, although numbers in HU are well below pre-pandemic peaks in 2018 and 2019.

The COVID-era student decline, the university has acknowledged in recent financial disclosures, is a significant factor in the operating deficits it has faced in recent years.

The school’s audits have shown overall operating deficits in each of the last two years, including an $8.4 million deficit for 2022-23, due in part to the expiration of some pandemic relief funding streams. This compares to revenues of $64.9 million versus expenses of $73.2 million.

According to a consultant’s report released this summer, HU’s financial position is expected to improve in 2023-24 and its operating deficit is expected to be reduced to about $800,000. HU, the consultant said, is expected to post surpluses in the coming fiscal years as long as enrollment continues to rise.

According to 2022 NCES data, HU enrollment is 3,082; of which 2,433 are in graduate programs and 649 are students. A more recent enrollment summary for 2023-24 shows total full-time enrollment at 644 undergraduates and 4,061 graduate students.

Mark Singel, the chair of the university’s board of trustees, noted in a separate video response to the Bloomberg story that these tuition fees also help support the school’s original mission of providing STEM-focused opportunities for students traditionally excluded from higher education were undersupplied.

“These graduate programs have allowed us to freeze (undergraduate) tuition for 12 years while expanding access to STEM education,” Singel said.

The Bloomberg article states that for many of the immigrant students, “Day 1 CPT is the only way to keep a job and stay in the U.S. legally.” But it is not without risk. The schools operate in a legal gray area that is tolerated but not explicitly approved by the Department of Homeland Security.”

But the university said in a separate statement about its participation: “Harrisburg University participates in an approved, certified and accredited graduate degree program. “During that time, we have passed every review by the federal government.”

“While some may question its intent,” Singel said, “we stand behind its legality and its undeniable benefits for both students and the economy.”