The Trump administration tightened visa policies, and the number of new international students enrolling in the United States dropped by 17%

According to the latest data from the Institute of International Education (IIE), after the Trump administration continuously tightened the visa policy for foreign students, the number of new international students enrolling in the United States this fall has dropped significantly, with the number of freshmen enrolling in international universities for the first time decreasing by 17%.

Bloomberg reported that the report pointed out that this was not the first decline. Previously, in the 2024-2025 academic year, the number of new international students enrolling also dropped by 7%, partly due to the reduction in the number of Chinese students traveling to the United States caused by geopolitical tensions.

The Trump administration launched attacks on both higher education and immigration this year, causing chaos in American colleges and universities and leaving many overseas students unable or unwilling to study in the United States. During the summer, the government once ordered the suspension of visa interviews for as long as a month, and then strengthened the review and reduced the number of available interview slots.

As most international students pay full tuition fees, the continuous decline in the number of new enrollments has also put greater financial pressure on universities.

Despite the challenges, the report points out that universities are still striving to attract international applicants. More than half of the schools surveyed said that they allowed foreign students to postpone their enrollment until next autumn. Most schools say they will continue to focus on enrolling international students in the future.

More than 80% of the surveyed universities emphasized that the perspectives and diverse backgrounds of international students are of great value to the campus. Sixty percent of the schools pointed out that the financial contribution of international students is equally crucial.

The report also shows that in fact, even before the start of Trump's second term, the number of new international students in the United States had already been on a downward trend in the 2024-2025 academic year. The changes vary at different academic levels: the number of freshmen at the undergraduate level has increased by 5%, while that at the postgraduate level has decreased by 15%.

In terms of major source countries, India continues to be the country that sends the most international students to the United States: in the 2024-2025 academic year, the number of Indian students in the United States exceeded 363,000, an increase of 10% compared to the previous year. China ranked second with approximately 266,000 people, but it decreased by 4% compared to the previous year.

Despite the decline in new enrollments, the United States remains the world's leading destination for international students. The report shows that the total number of international students in the United States rose by 5% in the 2024-2025 academic year, reaching approximately 1.2 million. In 2024, international students contributed nearly 55 billion US dollars to the US economy.