WAVERLY -- Peter Morgan, an Egyptian national, was studying in France when he heard the awful news.

Terrorists had rammed planes into New York's twin towers. People were dying.

"Peter, come and see … ," he remembers a friend saying.

The TV images appeared surreal, like something out of a movie.

"I remember well 9/11," he says. "I cried a lot."

Though Morgan's heart was touched, he never dreamed the tragedy would have an impact on his life or threaten his dream of studying at Wartburg College.

But it did.

…

Bu-Madyan Kahtan thinks he must be the only Yemeni in Iowa. At least that's how he feels so far away from home and family.

But the Fulbright scholar decided to endure the loneliness and scrutiny from the U.S. government to fulfill a childhood ambition. He wanted to go to school in America.

When Kahtan learned last fall he would likely be a recipient of a U.S. State Department scholarship, he thought his dream was about to become reality. After all, he was a respected teacher at the American Language Institute -- a center sponsored by the State Department -- in Yemen.

But getting clearance for a visitor's visa from that same agency took months. The process postponed the graduate student's start at the University of Northern Iowa where he now studies teaching English as a second language.

So he waited, and the 30-year-old husband and father of three thinks he knows why.

Since Sept. 11, citizens from the Middle East have seemingly been under more scrutiny. And Kahtan hails from a tiny country on the Arabian peninsula bordering Saudi Arabia.

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Red Tape

Two years after the tragedy, the world is still reeling.

Horrified that terrorists slipped through the system, the U.S. government adjusted its network of regulations. In theory, the additional interviews, background checks and lengthy wait ward off potential threats.

Education officials, however, contend those restrictions make it potentially more difficult for anyone from about 25 designated countries -- especially males from predominantly Islamic nations -- to get any kind of visa.

Edward Ogle, senior vice president of Upper Iowa University in Fayette, says he understands the need for tightened national security.

"Some of the new regulations make very good sense to us," Ogle says.

As an example, new rules force schools to keep better track of who actually shows up at the institutions and who does not.

But security measures also seem to thwart some Iowa educators' attempts to promote campus diversity.

David Fredrick, associate director for international recruiting at Wartburg for seven years, is troubled by what he calls "an overreaction to 9/11."

A former Foreign Service officer with the State Department for 28 years, he knows there's tension between the need for security measures and the desire to avoid stereotyping visitors to the United States based on their ethnic background or citizenship.

Fredrick agonizes for Morgan, "a good kid" who's virtually put his life on hold waiting to study pre-medicine at Wartburg.

And he thinks of the student from Pakistan who never made it to Waverly. By the time the student was approved for a U.S. visa, he'd finished his degree. Wartburg, an undergraduate school, had to forward the student's records to an East Coast graduate program.

"Legitimate operations are suffering," Fredrick says.

He sums up Uncle Sam's position like this: "We haven't said no exactly, but we've made it harder to come here."

Bu-Madyan's story

Ask Bu-Madyan Kahtan about his homeland and he'll smile.

Yemen is the most beautiful place on earth. The capital, Sana, is a little bigger than Des Moines, and there is an old section of the city guarded by seven gates.

"You feel like you are going into history, the way things where," he says.

Ask about his 4-year-old daughter, Asma, and he dotes on her like any proud father. Hearing her chatter is perhaps what he misses most.

Ask the Yemeni foreign national about the road coming to Cedar Falls and Kahtan looks sad.

"I was under stress a long, long time," he says.

Kahtan learned in October 2002 he would likely get his scholarship, but plans weren't finalized until that December. Scheduled to start at UNI the next month, he scrambled to fill out paperwork in two weeks.

Kahtan visited his parents and prepared himself mentally to leave his wife and children for the two-year program.

But January came and no visa appeared. Then February. Kahtan was worried.

"It was like saying goodbye to everyone and then no, I am staying," he says.

The go-ahead came about March, but the winter semester was already under way.

Finally, in June, Kahtan arrived in Cedar Falls. It was a Saturday. He started classes the following Monday.

Overcoming odds

This year, slightly more than 7,800 foreign nationals are going to school in Iowa - 1 percent fewer than in 2002.

But two of Northeast Iowa's schools are successfully maintaining their statistics despite what some perceive as additional red tape.

Wartburg has 77 international students from 32 countries this fall, the most international students since 1993. UNI's international enrollment hit a record 384 students from 77 countries this year.

Anticipating visa problems abroad, recruiters from both schools say they had to go on the offensive with renewed vigor to keep the students coming.

"We've been pretty aggressive over the past few years," says Kristina Marchesani, UNI's assistant director of admissions. "That's not to say we haven't been affected by the world climate."

She can think of at least 10 to 15 students unable to get a visa in a timely fashion or at all.

It's hard to say just how long students may wait. For people from Norway, six weeks might be a long time, Fredrick says. From China, an eight- to 12-month wait can be expected.

One UNI graduate student from Saudi Arabia,{M3 who declined to have his name published here, said he initially was told the process would take a month. So he sold his house and furniture.

Six months later, he was still waiting.

"The visa, it was about to destroy my life," the man says.

Other international students give up and go elsewhere. Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia have become academic havens of sorts for international students frustrated with U.S. policy.

Education officials say it's also harder now to recruit students from certain countries. UNl is seeing fewer students from Southeast Asia and Malaysia. Wartburg says it's tough, too, to get a visa in Indonesia, which is more than 80 percent Muslim.

Recruiting students from the Middle East is challenging, Marchesani adds, but UNI reps still travel in that region. It's important to let students there know they are wanted.

"We are one of the few schools who have kept a presence in the Middle East," she says.

Schools even practice a little profiling. Recruiters concentrate on countries with higher visa turnout rates and regions where families can afford to send students overseas.

For instance, Fredrick intends to encourage more Japanese students. Applicants from Japan tend to have success obtaining a visa because the U.S. government does not consider Japan a threat. Historically, Japanese students return home after their education -- something foreign nationals have to state as their intension when seeking a student visa.

Globetrotting

Some Iowans wonder how students overseas even hear about Midwestern schools, let alone decide to commit thousands of dollars to a campus sight unseen.

Devansh Dhutia, 21, of Tanzania had traveled the world but wanted a quiet environment when adjusting to American college life.

"I didn't want to get completely lost … just be another face. It's worked out," says the Wartburg senior, who had no trouble securing a visa. Though exchanging his home city, population 3 million, for an Iowa town of 9,000 was "a "bit drastic," Dhutia says he has no regrets.

Despite added restrictions, recruiting strategies have hardly changed since Wartburg hit its international watermark almost two decades ago with 121 students.

Kent Hawley served as Wartburg's international director then.

The visa process takes longer now, he says. On the other hand, technology also speeds colleges' admissions processes and correspondence with students.

Forging friendships with parents and students and other overseas contacts - and renewing relationships with alumni - are crucial to successful recruiting of international students.

"Word of mouth is terribly, terribly important," Hawley adds.

In-person recruiting{M3 worked{M3 for Dhutia. The resident assistant and computer science major was recruited by Wartburg's president, Jack R. Ohle.

Others learn about Wartburg online.

So whether recruiting a Polish national or a Waverly native, the pitch is the same: small class sizes, rigorous courses, financial aid, secure environment, quiet community.

In short, undergraduate education is a product, Fredrick said, and why not market that product everywhere in the world?

When viewing international education as a product, it becomes the state's fifth largest export, Fredrick says.

In 2001-02, international students contributed $149 million to Iowa's economy through tuition, travel, food and other expenditures, according to spending-habit surveys. And out-of-state tuition from international students gives UNI a boost in tough financial times.

But relating to people is at the heart of Wartburg's international programs philosophy.

"We need to remember the world is a small place today," Fredrick says. "It's important here for our American students to get to know people from other countries."

Foreign relations

Peter Morgan, 21, said he never thought going to college in America would be so complicated.

Like many freshmen in the United States, this Egyptian citizen expects to work his way through school and take out student loans. Like many young people, he's not sure exactly what he wants to do. Internal medicine, pediatrics, neurology perhaps.

"I don't know. The most important thing for me is to help as many people as I can," he says.

When he interviewed for a visa in Cairo last spring, soldiers guarding the U.S. Embassy hinted at America's lingering fear of terrorism. He's been in a constant state of anxiety waiting for his visa.

Morgan, a Christian, says he understands but can't help feeling he is being punished for the acts of Muslim extremists - actions that he mourned.

"I just feel somewhat unwelcome in the United States because of my nationality," he says.

Hawley is critical of a system that brands talented students who have only good intentions as potential terrorists. But he imagines the visa officers -- often young Foreign Services workers new to the job -- likely feel they are in the hot seat.

"Visa hell" is how one of Hawley's children, a former visa officer, described the overwhelming task.

Officials at Wartburg have high hopes of creating a "global campus" where foreign nationals make up 7 to 8 percent of the student body. But Fredrick thinks a lot of those goals hinge on students' ability to secure more financial aid.

Less than $100,000 is set aside in endowed funds for Wartburg international students, Fredrick says. Realistically, that number should be at least $5 to $10 million to boost student population as hoped, he says.

The average overseas Wartburg student receives less than $9,000 financial aid. Wartburg students from the U.S. typically have access to $12,000, he added. But Wartburg stands out as one of the few universities to offer undergraduate international students scholarships, he said.

To meet impending visa challenges, admissions officials at UNI and Wartburg predict they'll have to continue to play a role in the entry process, contacting and petitioning overseas embassies, if necessary.

Fredrick doesn't mind the new technology that tracks the whereabouts of international students. In fact, Wartburg was one of the first colleges to voluntarily adopt the SEVIS system, a database system now mandated by the federal government.

"I'm not saying we should just open the doors and let everyone in, but we need to make it easier again," Fredrick says. "We had good information about students (before) … but no one was interested."

In the meantime, officials hope to see more tenacious students, like Kahtan, willing to wait.

"This is what I needed to do to come here, so I will do it," Kahtan says.

Traditional Midwestern hospitality has soothed some of the rifts caused by what he believes was racial profiling.

"As a little kid, I was fascinated by American culture," he says. "(The education) really is a lot better than any place in the world."

As for Morgan, he could be at Wartburg as early as January. Tuesday, after an exasperating amount of paperwork including a snafu with his identify, he learned his application for a visa was approved. But he'll have to travel from France to Cairo to get it.

In the meantime, the 21-year-old is walking on Cloud Nine.

"I can't believe it," he said. "I said to my father … 'It feels like I'm dreaming.'"