LOVELAND, Ohio — Near the Loveland bike trail, Hend Aldosari crouches to the ground. She picks up a leaf and turns it over in her hand. She’s been here before, but she's starting to realize she might never be back.
“It's amazing. There are so many colors,” Aldosari said. “Where I live, it’s a desert.”
Aldosari is preparing to return to Saudi Arabia after more than a decade working and studying in the Tri-State.
“We have a different culture back home,” Aldosari said. “And I felt like if I’m going to succeed, I need to go experience my emotion in a different place.”
She moved to America in 2013 and earned her master’s degree at Xavier University. She then received her doctorate at the University of Cincinnati. For almost a decade, she worked as a mental health counselor at a nonprofit near campus.
“I feel like I grew up in Cincinnati,” Aldosari said. “Cincinnati actually helped me to accept life — and the change of life.”
Change that now means worrying about adjusting to a place she hasn't lived in more than a decade. And change that for some international students means not coming to America at all.
This fall, 737 fewer international graduate students enrolled at UC compared to the previous year. That's a 25% decrease.
"It really does become hard," said Jack Miner, the vice provost of enrollment management at UC. “We don’t necessarily have other students filling in behind them."
WATCH: Grad student says goodbye to America, returns to Saudi Arabia
Experts like Miner attribute the drop to uncertainty and fear among some prospective students, as well as recent policy changes regarding immigration. It's a trend that's happening across the country, where recent studies estimate international enrollment is down nearly 20% from last year.
“It’s not just your everyday line worker,” Miner said. “It’s the person who may have made the next great discovery. It’s the person who might have been here trying to cure cancer.”
Simply put, it could change what Cincinnati’s workforce looks like.
“Education is the opportunity to fuel our economy,” Miner said. “And you’ll absolutely start to see companies go to other parts of the country — and other parts of the world — to be able to manage that.”
Aldosari remembers arriving in Cincinnati feeling isolated and unsure where she fit.
“I’m glad I’m studying counseling,” Aldosari said. “So I could counsel myself.”
She said it’s been hard, but she tells me her experience made her a more empathetic counselor. And she worries about others who will not get the same experience.
“It’s sad,” Hend said. “We are all human.”
At Ikron, where Hend works, officials tell me they often work with international students.
“It’s hard, as an agency, to find licensed clinicians that want to work in community mental health," said Randy Strunk, the organization's executive director. “And oftentimes, we can find individuals from other cultures that enjoy working with this population.”
In the facility’s gym, Artez Nelson works as a wellness instructor. He tells me he's a good talker, but he came here searching for help.
“Racing thoughts,” Nelson said. “I was struggling with anxiety — slight depression. So that’s why I came here.”
He's worked with Hend for about a year.
“Hend watched me come from that ... destroyed, scatterbrained guy, to this positive, goal-oriented young man,” Nelson said.
He smiles. And then he gives Hend a hug. Because he might not see her again.
Her flight is already booked. And she's leaving this month.
“I’ve done everything I wanted here,” Hend said. “I’m ready to go back home.”
