China is the second largest source of international students in the U.S. after India. We'll check in.

There are a quarter million students from China studying in the U.S. this fall. That's down 36% from a peak back in 2017 ahead of President Trump in his first term, increasing scrutiny of foreign graduate students

working in sectors like robotics and aviation. Here's Marketplace's China correspondent, Jennifer

Pack. Applying to U.S. colleges is complex. That's why many Chinese families hire consulting

firms like Zuman Academy. Its founder and Columbia alum, Gu Huiini, says business has been slower this year.

I have laid off a 30 person of my staff in the Shanghai office.

It didn't help, she says, that over the last six months, President Donald Trump,

has targeted immigrants, international students, and China.

In August, the State Department said it revoked 6,000 student visas for breaking the law or

supporting terrorism.

It's an escalation, and even I was very, very anxious after reading the news, let alone my clients.

But for Chinese students studying abroad, says college admissions consultant,

Wan Chiao Feng, their top choice remains the U.S.

It just goes back to the thousand-year-old tradition of Chinese families

wanting to give their children the best education possible.

And of the best 100 universities in the world, most are in the U.S., he says.

Once Chinese families decide on an American education,

Wan Xiaofeng says they spend lots of money and years to prepare.

So it's hard to suddenly pivot. The difference now, students will

apply to U.S. universities, plus... College is in the U.K., in Hong Kong, in Canada, just to have a plan B or

plan C in case the U.S. falls out. And an American degree still gives graduates a leg up in the Chinese job market, says Phoebe You.

She works for a U.S. University's outreach office in Shanghai.

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