Making a list, but not checking it--ever: was the effort to list foreign students all for naught?

Remember SEVIS? Some administrators probably couldn't forget it if they tried. After 9/11, college and university personnel scrambled to create the federally mandated database that seemed crucial in the effort to track the whereabouts of all foreign students. The reporting system presumably would raise a red flag for officials if a foreigner entered the country on a student visa, but never appeared for classes.

According to a new survey from the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (www.aacrao.org), SEMIS increased the workload at 80 percent of higher ed institutions. The cost to create the "Student and Exchange Visitor Information System" was tens of millions of dollars, estimates Barmak Nassirian, associate executive director of AACRAO, who adds that the software implementation was akin to Y2K compliance for many colleges and universities. "It was a major redirection of resources during an economic downturn," says Nassirian.

And although the SEVIS database was supposed to be up and running by August 1, 2003, close to 60 percent of schools surveyed are still having technical trouble accessing information and using the data base. Moreover, 34.8 percent of schools believe the tracking system has harmed their recruitment and enrollment efforts. But the real shock is that Customs officials--the group SEVIS was supposed to serve--aren't even using it. This spring, an official in the Department of Homeland Security acknowledged that many Customs officers at airports and other points of entry do not have direct access to the SEVIS database. They have been instructed to "eyeball" students and refer them to someone with access if there is reason to be suspicious, says Nassirian.

Schools that received SEVIS
  Training from INS OR DHS           12.6%

Schools that received training
  From private firm                  34.3%

Schools that received no training    53.1%