As a matter of information and interest, my daughter is in charge of handling VISAs for an embassy in DC. I'm not going to tell you which one, for obvious reasons.
She pointed out to me that there are a variety of variations on student visas. Plain vanilla student visas give the student 30-60 days to report to the school (they are allowed to come in early to find housing, get settled, etc.) She said that these people must have had one of the more restricted visas, otherwise no one would be looking for them so soon.
She noted how poor the reporting is on this story, but figures reporters don't have any knowledge on the subject (duh, surprise) and surely aren't going to learn anything own their own.
NO MORE VISAs to anyone from Middle Eastern sandboxes.