Lower fee structure and work permit from the first day lured many students from India to opt for the California-based Tri-valley University (TVU), which was shut down by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), say educational consultants.

The university was shut down on charges of a massive immigration scam by the ICE recently leaving the Indian students to face the prospect of deportation from the US.

About 95 per cent of the students at TVU, dubbed a “sham university” by the US immigration officials, were reported to be Indian, most of them from Andhra Pradesh.

According to IAEC Consultants, a city-based overseas educational consultant, the university was chosen by most of the Indian students because of its fee structure, which is lesser when compared to other universities.

“TVU’s fee structure is very less when compared to other universities in USA which charge in the range of $15,000 to $20,000 per annum. Also, the university basically offers online courses which allow the students to stay at a place other than the location,” the IAEC Managing Director, Mr Madhukar Reddy, told PTI.

Incidentally, consultancy has been named as Tri-valley’s representatives for South Asia region in the varsity’s website.

However, Mr Reddy denied any links with the university and said the consultancy has not sent even a single student to the institution.

“As per (media) reports, as many as 1,500 students (in the university) are from India. The US Government will never issue visas in such large scale to one single university,” he said.

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