The number of foreign undergraduate freshmen at U.S. colleges and universities this spring is down an average of 20% from a year earlier, according to research from a coalition of education groups, the latest sign that President Donald Trump’s standoff with the higher education community is hammering a critical source of talent and funding.
A report released Monday by multiple agencies, including the U.S. international education organization NAFSA, said the study was based on a survey of 149 U.S. colleges and universities, about 62% of which reported a decline in international student enrollment in both undergraduate and graduate programs compared with spring 2025.
International students, who typically pay full tuition, are an important source of revenue for universities, which is increasingly important as they face the challenge of a declining domestic population. The Trump administration is tightening access to foreign students as part of its broader pressure campaign to reshape higher education and limit immigration pathways.
Although the number of students enrolling in the spring is typically smaller, enrollment trends for that semester are often viewed as a bellwether for the much larger enrollment period in the fall. If international student enrollment also declines by nearly 20% this fall, some U.S. colleges and universities may face serious budget shortfalls.
A turning point for U.S. colleges and universities came last spring, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested and detained dozens of foreign students, sometimes on campus or in dormitories, and revoked the legal residency of thousands more. After a series of government court defeats, most students' status was restored, but the crackdown has far-reaching consequences.
Although overall international student enrollment in the United States fell 1.4% last fall from a year earlier, most students who enrolled at that time had started the application process before the White House stepped up restrictions on foreign student admissions. It was not until March that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents began targeting students for enforcement, while the U.S. State Department suspended visa interviews in May, the peak season for student visas, in order to introduce new, stricter vetting policies in June.
The survey showed that 84% of American colleges and universities listed "restrictive government policies" as the main reason for the decrease in students, and more than one-third of colleges and universities said that this is likely to lead to budget cuts. Last summer, student visa issuance fell by 36%.
The survey, conducted by NAFSA in partnership with a number of international education institutions, collected responses from hundreds of universities around the world, including Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom, which are also major study destinations for international students. These countries also saw a decline in international student enrollment this spring due to restrictive immigration policies. And universities in Europe and Asia report rising international student enrollments.
