Public opinion showcases widespread dissatisfaction with U.S. colleges' dependency on international students for revenue, revealing concerns about administrative greed and the quality of education. There are significant anxieties surrounding immigration policies and the broader implications of declining international student enrollment on innovation and cultural diversity in America.

U.S. Colleges and Universities

Current U.S. Administration

Local Communities

The following submission statement was provided by /u/I_D0nt_pay_taxes:

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&gt;Classes began this week for students at the University at Buffalo, a public research university in western New York, but there were about **750** fewer international students on campus than expected.

…….

&gt; Over the last six months the Trump Administration has clamped down on international student visas, temporarily pausing and then revamping the student visa interview process and bringing more scrutiny to the vetting system. That led to long delays and meant many accepted students couldn't get appointments at embassies or consulates in time for the start of the fall semester.

……..

&gt;At the University at Buffalo, the overall decline of about 15% of international students is happening mostly in graduate programs, especially in the STEM fields. But it's not just Buffalo. Universities all over the country are experiencing similar drops. Arizona State University reported a fall semester decline for **the first time since 2020**. Declines have been announced at universities in Texas, Missouri and Illinois. The state of Massachusetts is expecting about **10,000** fewer new international students this year.


Also I added the “[U.S.]” in the title simply to be specific. I don’t know if it’s mod approved or not.

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 Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/1nhum6g/uscolleges_see_significant_drop_in_international/nee7hpw/

FuturologyBot

And in May, the State Department said it would "aggressively revoke" visas for Chinese students and add additional scrutiny for future visa applications from China.

But in recent days Trump has signaled a shift. This week, Trump told reporters he planned to double the amount of Chinese students studying in the U.S.

Lmfao this guy is actually too funny.

ifnotawalrus

ICE targeted and jailed multiple students with valid visas that are suddenly and without warning being revoked. The US is no longer safe for foreign students.

- https://www.npr.org/2025/06/23/nx-s1-5441691/mahmoud-khalil-interview
- https://www.npr.org/2025/03/17/1239050322/here-now-anytime-03-17-2025
- https://www.npr.org/2025/04/15/nx-s1-5365410/student-activist-arrested-by-ice-at-his-citizenship-appointment
- https://www.npr.org/2025/04/02/nx-s1-5348083/legal-scholar-sees-immigrant-arrests-as-a-struggle-for-the-soul-of-the-country

FALCUNPAWNCH

&gt;Classes began this week for students at the University at Buffalo, a public research university in western New York, but there were about **750** fewer international students on campus than expected.

…….

&gt; Over the last six months the Trump Administration has clamped down on international student visas, temporarily pausing and then revamping the student visa interview process and bringing more scrutiny to the vetting system. That led to long delays and meant many accepted students couldn't get appointments at embassies or consulates in time for the start of the fall semester.

……..

&gt;At the University at Buffalo, the overall decline of about 15% of international students is happening mostly in graduate programs, especially in the STEM fields. But it's not just Buffalo. Universities all over the country are experiencing similar drops. Arizona State University reported a fall semester decline for **the first time since 2020**. Declines have been announced at universities in Texas, Missouri and Illinois. The state of Massachusetts is expecting about **10,000** fewer new international students this year.


Also I added the “[U.S.]” in the title simply to be specific. I don’t know if it’s mod approved or not.

I_D0nt_pay_taxes

There are plenty of places around the world where you can get an excellent education without risking an extended stay at CECOT...

Citizen-Kang

We are still only in Year 1 of this administration.

sleepystaff

Yes, because we scared them off by being absolute psychopaths to people with valid visas.

chaucer345

The brain drain from this administration will hamstring this country for decades and decades.

SneakyP27

They don't want to disappear inside an ICE detention facility.  Valid.

[deleted]

US won't attract world's brightest anymore. A brain drain coming soon. 

endofworldandnobeer

Russia has the same problem. Trump is on a solid path to recession and economic downturn.

CptnMillerArmy

Diminishing the ability of educational institutions to remain open and thriving is a conservative goal. It’s all connected ya’ll.

desperaterobots

America has lost its appeal under the MAGA regime. Who wants to deal with a fascist government if you have other options?

strangerzero

And colleges will still get more expensive having lost these out off state tuitions

kfri13

Don't blame them. The US is garbage right now. Worst administration ever.

DifficultBudget9864

Racists and isolationists are completely incapable of understanding that international students were a huge benefit in many, many ways to the US and it's depressing to know we might never fully recover from this even if things were to change for the better, like, next year.

spartaxwarrior

Got a friend that got denied a student visa about 2 months before the current administration took power. As a Malaysian trans woman she didn't just dodge a bullet but a damn cannon ball.

MrScribz

This is probably the most obvious r/NoShitSherlock I've seen recently

BrantheMan1985

The best of these students pretty much always stayed here after graduation and became our top researchers and scientists.  Combine this with the fact that our K-12 has *completely collapsed* and it's clear we're not going to retain our science and technology lead into the future... especially when China is actively putting more money and effort into this.  

I don't think people appreciate how much our status in the world  comes from our science and tech lead -- the word "freedom" doesn't carry as much of it as we'd like to think.

As it is now, it's China's game to lose -- they do have their own problems, of course, but wouldn't it be better if our fates were in our own hands instead of relying on someone else fucking up?

gw2master

I see everybody mentioning visas, what about gun violence?



Do people really think having extra stress during college is better?


Edit: lmao some dude is losing his mind and hiding his comments.


At no point did I mention any form of gun reform. Touch grass bud.

Itchy-Beach-1384

This can bankrupt many colleges in the long run. Schools that don’t have massive endowments rely heavily on internationals to help fund year to year operations. There was already a population cliff coming in a couple years for students of college age that universities were scared of, now this will only get worse. Congrats government, more jobs lost and talented potential future citizens scared away for years. I’m sure when they start closing doors in few years, everyone will surely remember who caused this.

MarionberryDecent351

International students are like free money for universities and their towns.

BenjaminHarrison88

Can we do H1-B visas next?

The owner class wants to keep flooding the tech sector with foreign workers who will work for less than what Americans will accept.

carnalasadasalad

They slashed our TA budget by 30%, we couldn't have supported them anyway.

Rhawk187

Who'd have thunk that being openly hostile to foreigners would have this effect? That's ok, they can raise tuition on everyone else to make up for it

eulynn34

Universities were already facing a large drop in college age children aka enrollment cliff

https://www.npr.org/2025/01/08/nx-s1-5246200/demographic-cliff-fewer-college-students-mean-fewer-graduates

upstateduck

Hopefully this means tuition will come down but we all know it will just go up "to cover lost revenue".  Then when they come back that new money will be allocated to some new bloat

ElectrikDonuts

I don't even think I could cross state lines and not be shipped to another country.

I was born in the US, as were my parents. 

Anyone from outside the country, coming here? Brave beyond comprehension, or foolish beyond measure. Until a full scale revolution happens, I don't think anyone is safe here.

Especially not students.

Lakefish_

Plenty of colleges outside of US that are cheaper and safer

Turbulent-Light-3551

The right are doing everything they can to kill universities, and the jacked up tuition foreign students pay is an important part of their budgets.

Alexis_J_M

Without question, the endgame for Trump and many of his supporters is a Pol Pot pile of the skulls of those who can read and comprehend and a destroyed centrally planned economy that would be noted as suspiciously socialist if you could say so without being shot. 

This is more than just “my ignorance is superior to any expertise” it is “the educated who won’t support the führer are the enemy.”  The lost research and students can never be made up and must result in a permanent loss of the tech edge lead for America. The entire thing is the purest treason dramatically defunding most US institutions. You couldn’t have designed a foreign attack that did even 5% of this damage.

GuitarGeezer

This is the battle line of immigration being redrawn to expand their war on higher education. A drop in international students is also an overall drop in enrollment, and these students represent a high percentage of projected income for lots of small universities, especially ones with nationally recognized but highly specialized fields of study.

Between the job market falling, the AI threat causing more corporate and tech jobs to vanish, and the enrollment cliff, universities are going to start operating at a loss as they try to weather the storm. This will make 47's threats of revoking federal funding hurt even more, and some universities will have to consider capitulating to his insane demands or close their doors.

TarbenXsi

Huh… I wonder why. Everything is perfect over here!

Mundane-Swimming-458

I'm surprised there's any international students enrolling.

47981247

The US is about to drop in every significant worldwide statistic besides cost of living and padding rich people's money.

Fuckthegopers

I was teaching at the Art Institute in Fort Lauderdale, FL when the planes hit the World Trade Center. When all the foreign students stopped coming after that our student body was cut by more than 50%.

We had major financial issues and the entire company was later sold to an investment fund which then began chopping up the assets and essentially killing the schools.

This is going to be very bad for American educational institutions.

The_RealAnim8me2

im sure they are seeing drops in domestic students as well

  
college simply not worth it for many people

33ITM420

Shocked anyone? Im American and wish I could go to school elsewhere.

Scubasteve1974

This is excellent news for American children and American families.

shoshin2727

International students and tp a leesser degree put of state students pay higer tuition cost.

Which in theory subsidies in state tuition at at the very least makes it easier for in-state to be lower.

amazinglover

I won't say where I work, but we've seen a drop in international students of almost 50% compared to last Fall, and it's primarily in graduate programs.

mattreyu

hey grok what's that thing called where all the smart college aged folks decide to start their careers somewhere else?

EvilStevilTheKenevil

It's a real shame all of the big colleges can only survive at their current operating costs for hundreds of years on their endowments alone. 


What ever will they do without all of that tuition money???

moar_stuff

Surprise Pikachu face! When your government is scary no one wants to travel there.

ohfrackthis

I mean is giving world class education to your primary adversary (china) really working out for us? Look at what they've accomplished in the past few decades they didn't just magically figure that all out by themselves we have completely sold out our nation for profit even at the expense of national defense

lizardwiener

I'm kind of curious at what the wider economic effects of this will be.

International students usually have to pay a significant markup on tuition costs. Now they're disappearing. That means the universities get less funding.

Less funding for universities may mean increased tuition on resident students to make up for the funding gap. So education becomes more expensive, and more out of reach of future students.

International students won't just say "oh darn, I can't study in America, so I guess I just won't study at all!" -- they'll just go study abroad in other countries, bringing their tuition money with them. That will benefit those universities, possibly increasing their reputation and stature.

IF down the road, the US relaxes its policy on international students, it may find that the students won't all come rushing back. There are better opportunities elsewhere.

In effect, US universities may be feeling a financial pinch that isn't easy to reverse, possibly signalling cuts to their staff and programs. Gradually, we'd cede whatever knowledge advantage we had to other countries, and in a future world where most econonomies become knowledge based economies, we'd be at a competitive disadvantage globally.

PloppyPants9000

The increasing likelihood they will be kidnapped, have their human rights violated, be detained for an unknown amount of time and possibly be sent to an unrelated 3rd world prison for torture...might not be an effective recruiting tool.

Black-Zero

maga has made our country seem like the land of the stupid, where antivaxxers make vaccine decisions and of course the xenophobia. It's understandable they wouldn't want to invest in and get degrees from our colleges.

Kiflaam

It might have a little to do with this country's regression. So much has changed for the worse since 2016 I'm surprised they haven't just outright cancelled school altogether! People aren't learning shit anymore anyway.

EsrailCazar

Oh no, now they'll have to accept more Americans, the horror, the horror!

Left_Chest_5425

That's what happens when you elect an administration that thinks international commerce is a bad thing.

carson63000

Meanwhile a lot of people in first world countries are wishing this was a headline for them 😂 Canada for sure

Karona_

nooooo. not the greedy universities who have driven prices through the roof to  milk foreign students at the expense of American students!!! Please won't you think of the poor administrators? How else will they be able to afford their mansions?

Emperor_Spuds_Macken

The drop in international students hits more than just tuition, it’s the loss of global culture on campus also, International students bring both money and culture, and schools are feeling the absence hard.

Arjun_Singh123

Good. Maybe we can be what we say we are.  For once.

mathaiser

In some areas this may make college less expensive. Some schools with significant international students,’pass over in state students since they make more money on international than in state. 

IMO state schools should be required to take all eligible in state students that applied before out of state or international students.

h0sti1e17

More spots for Americans to go to the top universities seems like a good thing.

amazebol

Parallels how incels can't get dates and form healthy relationships.

ClayKavalier

Surprise surprise. Who the fuk wants to come to trumps america. Place of hate and zero acceptance.

leefee123

15% drop seems lower than I would have guessed. Think you should be happy, not more.

Sapaio

Welp, there go the marks paying MSEP subsidizing the ride for everyone else.

NewPresWhoDis

Remember that news update in *Robocop* where Japan had bought Harvard and basically shipped it back to Japan and rebuilt it brick by brick and everyone laughed at how far fetched that would be?

Yeeeeaaaa….

typhoidtimmy

Man it's just a complete mystery why that could be..genuinely a shame though.

tfinx

Tbh, I wouldn't go if I had to do it all over again. All the stress and uncertainty are not worth it, the immigration laws are straight-up fucked up in the US.

RDSne

My college alone saw such significant drop that funding was cut immensely! 
The last spring session, my course saw only 2 international students, whereas it was filled with them.

Ok-Cheesecake-4676

I can't understand why anyone would want to come to the US now- to live, to study, etc.  It is NOT the same as it was even a year ago and it is particularly worse for immigrants and foreigners

Defiant_Concert1327

You ain’t seen nothing yet. Check 2026 Fall admissions to see the REAL drop.

shan23

I just hope they get their mandatory orientation session about keeping their mouth shut regarding Kirk, the genocide in Gaza, and well, just about anything that has the whiff of humanistic politics. Wouldn't want them to be mistaken for a member of anti-fa, black bagged, and whisked off to a gulag in El Salvador.

rei0

rinklkak

These colleges deserve this with their ridiculous tuition increases outpacing inflation. And a scam student loan govt backed system as well as international students fueling them to help pay for $250,000 “administrators.”

Alarmed_Reporter_642

Education is one of the lucrative services that the US has to sell.  Unfortunately for us facist clowns are in charge.

Brilliant-Gas9464

Sufficient-nobody7

U.S. college is absolutely not worth the money - go somewhere with real education instead.

unchangingtask

The students can make their own countries great!

jambu111

Great, because isolating higher education will help the betterment of the world…

Diamond1africa

Its great that they are enriching their own countries where they live in.

babuloseo

Sree_289

Unless it’s a STEM degree, totally not worth it.

colmillerplus

Many people back home reach out to me to ask if they should come to the US for higher studies. I straight up tell them not to come in the current environment.

Historical-Meal-503

You got to be a real life Dumb &amp; Dumber guy to enroll in US college under Trump's action plans

LingonberryAfter4399

By the time the students graduate, JD Vance, the new President of the US, will reduce OPT from three years to just one year and will introduce a quota of only 50,000 OPTs each year. It's just not worth spending your hard earned money on us degree mills.

Enough_Tax_1417

StatisticianOwn5709

Amazing, great progress.  Taking back our schools.

Nofanta

FancyyPelosi

That is because all have full time jobs, studies take a backseat for now. PR is priority.

Good_as_any

Good maybe then we can have less administrative people then our tuition can decrease.

unashame

Weekly-Ad353

people started having less kids after the 2008 recession, so small schools will start having trouble finding kids.

Technical_Wall1726

This is what they want. 

Conservatives will cheer as our educational institutions are destroyed

18Apollo18

Rather than reduce their tuition they’ll just close. 

Hmmm, almost like colleges, regardless of status as public or private is all for profit.

Romano16

shellexyz

The article states:

"**The study finds, “Losing up to one-third of undergraduate enrollment and almost two-fifths of graduate enrollment would be catastrophic for many colleges and universities, especially those in parts of the United States already experiencing demographic declines. It would likely lead to many colleges and universities closing, resulting in fewer educational opportunities for U.S. students, fewer higher education-related jobs in many states and towns and fewer college-educated workers in the United States.”**

**The universities likely to close are not Yale and Columbia but lower and mid-tier schools. “Regional universities and small liberal arts colleges, especially those in rural areas, face the biggest challenges,” said Zavodny. U.S. and international students will hope to attend well-known universities.**"

I don't like this headline. Sort of a clickbait debate. 

So many of these regional universities and small liberal arts colleges should close.  Why did they make the financial decision to rely so much on this funding? The return on investment isn't there in these small regional schools. How much debt are graduates carrying after 4 years, and how many have found jobs in the careers they'd trained for?

If available, community college is the place to start (far less expensive), and then hop to a larger school. Should there be more options where kids can get degrees virtually from accredited schools at a lower cost ? Couldn't that help solve funding issues and lower costs?  Tuition is less than room and board at some state schools.  

Maybe not everybody should go to college?  529s (if you are lucky enough to have one) pay for certifications now -- if I had to start again, I would be an electrician or a plumber.

Prestigious-Tap-3446

Back in the 1970s, the SC governor gave grants to students who went to private colleges to keep costs down and to keep numerous private colleges from closing. A couple of those ,including my Alma mater ,are universities now.

Wide-Artichoke2150

so what, greedy money mills most of these places are.

No_Tank_7597

If you can't survive without international students, good riddance

The_RedWolf

treatment cobweb crown merciful sense nine chief price ancient reply

 *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev/home)*

shitisrealspecific

U.S. colleges are facing significant financial challenges due to a sharp decline in international students attributed to restrictive visa policies.

Decline of International Students in U.S. Colleges

Why This Matters

Public Sentiment Summary

Highlighted Comments

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What the people want