Fanta Aw, executive director and CEO of NAFSA, a nonprofit that supports international education, said that Fulbright scholarships are not charity. "They were created with the understanding that the U.S. must exchange with the rest of the world and vice versa. This is about smart diplomacy. It is an investment in our future and in our national security and economic interest."
Some international students studying in the U.S. felt regret that they accepted the Fulbright scholarship after passing on offers from other countries. "I feel extremely disrespected. This is not how we treat our guests in my culture," said Shafiqul Islam from Bangladesh who added he would have gone to the UK if he had known "the U.S. government would humiliate me this way."