Exploring the Extent of International Undergraduate Students' Academic Struggles during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

What was the extent to which international undergraduates struggled academically during the COVID-19 pandemic? This chapter reports an analysis of all international undergraduates' grade point averages (GPAs) at an American West Coast public university during the 2019–2020 academic year. Less than 10% of these students who previously entered the university as transfers (TRAN), and less than 5% who previously entered as first-time undergraduates (NFRS), earned GPAs below 2.0 during fall 2019, i.e., before the pandemic. Contrary to expectations, these percentages decreased by 80.2% and 69.5%, respectively, in spring 2020, i.e., during the pandemic. The present findings indicate that only a small minority of the university's international undergraduate population struggled academically during the COVID-19 pandemic's first year. Potential explanations for these unexpected findings are discussed.