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The Waiting Game: African Students and the Illusion of Access to the US

Our CEO, Bimpe Femi-Oyewo, just published a powerful piece on PIE News and it is one you do not want to scroll past.

She opens with a stark reality, in mid-December, everything changed. African students who had done everything right, exceptional academics, compelling stories, competitive test scores, suddenly found themselves locked out of opportunities they had spent years working toward. And four months later, she says, we are still here. Still waiting. Still navigating uncertainty with over 40 students in limbo.

She gets personal about what that actually looks like on the ground. It is not just statistics, it is a student who earned a life-changing scholarship but cannot attend. A family that invested everything into an application cycle now forced to defer indefinitely. Refugees already navigating immense hardship, shut out not because of merit, but because of nationality.

She also challenges the idea of simply waiting it out. Based on what evidence, she asks, should students believe things will improve? Visa pathways remain uncertain, interview availability is constrained, and workaround options that many relied on have been eliminated.

But perhaps the most striking part of her piece is the shift she is witnessing. Students are no longer asking where they want to go. They are asking where they are actually wanted. Countries like France, Spain, Belgium, Norway, the UK, and Canada are becoming strategic first choices, not backup plans.

Her conclusion is both honest and hopeful, the US may still be a dream for many African students, but right now, it is a dream deferred. And she believes this moment is an opportunity for the global education ecosystem to rethink what access, equity, and opportunity truly mean.

Read her article here: https://bit.ly/4mPGJ3p