Applicants approach elite colleges with greater trepidation amid fights with Trump

The Hill

4 days ago

Some college applicants are reconsidering certain institutions or changing their application strategies as President Trump wages war against higher education.
Consultants hired to help students gain admission to elite institutions say they have seen some shifts in interest, stemming from concerns about funding, peer pressure and a waning belief in the need for a degree from specific prestige universities. Applicants have also cited visa pauses and the rise in tension on campuses.
'In my experience, it has had a huge effect,' said Kanishka Elupula, a college admissions consultant at The Ivy Institute, who works with U.S. students, along with applicants from India, Japan and countries in the Middle East.
Students 'asked me if it's a good idea to apply, and later they told me they're worried about it, they're scared about it, and I know that several people have chosen not to apply to the U.S. this year. In fact, even some American students are considering applying to European universities. So there's definitely been an effect,' Elupula added.
Harvard, Columbia, the University of California, the University of Pennsylvania and others have, collectively, had the federal government pause billions of dollars in grants and other funding for various reasons, from antisemitism on campus to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
Only two universities, Columbia and Brown, have been able to get funding restored, by agreeing to big payouts and changes to institutional policies, like protest rules and admissions and hiring processes.
The funding pauses have led to concerns about research funding, especially for graduate students. But actions against foreign students, such as a pause in visa applications and threats to force international individuals out of Harvard, have also taken its toll.
Taimur Ahmed, CEO of Ivy League Consulting and former Harvard admissions interviewer, told The Hill he pairs students seeking to apply to an Ivy League school with current or former students so they hear recent firsthand experiences about the institutions.
One of the former international students with whom Ahmed worked lost a job after Harvard said it could no longer sponsor her visa due to funding cuts, leading her to lose a job offer.
'Because she's one of my mentors, she's having an impact by being honest about her experiences to the students, so many students who perhaps were not Harvard-bound are just no longer applying,' he added.
At least two of the nation's elite universities said they are not seeing evidence of changes in admissions behavior.
A Columbia official told The Hill the 2025 admissions cycle is the fourth highest ever of applicants looking to go to Columbia College and the university's engineering program. The institution is expecting a fully enrolled incoming class, as well.
'It would be irresponsible to attempt to draw conclusions regarding the trends among an admitted student pool of more than 2,500 students—or an applicant pool of nearly 60,000 students—based on a handful of anecdotal stories from paid consultants, who sell their services to families,' the official said.
The University of California also boasts of a strong numbers for fall 2025 admissions, noting the fall 2026 window is from August to end of December.
'Understandably, the federal administration's actions have caused uncertainty and have the potential to inflict great harm on the UC community as well as all Americans. We will continue to do everything we can to protect vital federal investments that support students, grow research and preserve access to essential health care services,' a spokesperson for the university system said.
Amid trepidation, many high schoolers are still applying but taking different strategies as they move through the process.
'What is happening is most students are still keeping many of these universities on their college lists. But then the shift is going from, instead of applying to some of these schools, early action or early decision, they're applying to them regular decision,' said Allen Koh, CEO of Cardinal Education. 'And the shift has been when people have an acceptance from, let's say Columbia or Duke. Look historically, people almost would always pick Columbia' but now it's a toss up.
These consultants say their advice to students is to try to drown out the noise from the media and family, as elite American institutions will survive this moment and are still highly regarded.
Elupula said any shift in admissions could actually open doors for some applicants.
'If you're willing to take the risk that any of these things could go wrong, then the good thing is, you'll have a higher chance of acceptance into a top university, because competition from international students has fallen significantly,' he said.
Institutions could also look to enroll more individuals to make up for lost funding.
'I had more students get off the wait list at Brown than I've ever seen before. There was definitely more wait list activity. And of course, this is anecdotal, and I'm a data person, but my anecdotal experience was that there was more wait list activity than typical. And that would not surprise me, based on some of the funding issues the schools were dealing with.' said John Morganelli, head of college admissions at Ivy Tutors Network and former Cornell Arts & Sciences director of admissions.
Duke, for the first time in its history, reopened its waitlist to accept 50 additional students into the class of 2029, he said, although did not say if financial pressure played a role in that decision.
'That never happens, but the concept of, we're struggling with funding from a federal level, how do we make that up? The answer is always enrollment,' Morganelli added.