As Trump takes aim at international students, these colleges have the most to lose

Yahoo

4 days ago

Since President Trump returned to office, some of the most aggressive actions taken by his administration have centered around two issues: immigration and higher education. He has launched a nationwide mass deportation program that has defied courts and stretched the bounds of his constitutional authority. He has also targeted some of the nation's most prestigious colleges, revoking billions of dollars in federal funding while trying to strong-arm them into overhauling how they operate.
Students who have come to the United States for college have found themselves at the center of both of these ongoing ideological battles, forced to deal with the whiplash of changing policies, a barrage of court orders and rampant uncertainty about whether they'll be able to continue their education in this country.
In the past few months, more than 1,800 international students attending nearly 300 universities have had their visas revoked by the State Department — only to see that decision abruptly reversed. Multiple foreign students have been detained for weeks by immigration authorities because of their political activities. The administration has tried to revoke Harvard's right to host international students but has so far been blocked by a court order. On Tuesday, the Trump administration ordered U.S. embassies worldwide to pause visa interviews for prospective students.
It's unclear how long that pause might be in effect or how the administration's new procedures might affect the number of international students who end up coming to the U.S. next year. What is certain is that America's longstanding position as a coveted destination for scholars from around the world has been upended.
Students from other nations have been coming to study at American universities for more than 100 years, and their numbers have steadily grown over the course of the past century. During the 2023-24 school year, the U.S. was the top academic destination in the world, with a record-setting 1.1 million foreign students attending American colleges, according to the Institute of International Education (IIE).
A number of past presidents have viewed international exchange programs as a way to build strong relationships with other nations. They understood that the 'best and brightest' students from all over the world would likely grow up to have great influence in their home nations and instilling them with a positive view of the United States could help with future diplomacy.
'We know that some other president, in other days, will be greeting you as either the prime ministers or the presidents or the first ladies of significant countries,' then-President John F. Kennedy Jr. told a group of foreign students in 1962. 'And I hope when you do that, you will say that you were at the White House once before.'
As their numbers have grown, foreign students have also become increasingly important economically, both to the schools they attend and the surrounding communities. Last year, international students were responsible for adding $43.8 billion to the U.S. economy and supported nearly 400,000 American jobs, according to estimates from the international education group NAFSA.
The number of international students in the United States has nearly doubled over the past two decades, in large part because of their financial value to schools in the wake of the Great Recession.
'When particularly public colleges and state budgets were being cut, you could actually see how declines in state dollars going to colleges were being made up for with foreign enrollments. Those tuition dollars are pretty important to keeping the lights on,' Carolyn Beeler, a reporter for Inside Higher Ed, said in an interview with The World radio network last year.
Many foreign students pay significantly more in tuition and fees than locals do. They are also far less likely to rely on financial aid or scholarships. Roughly 80% of international students cover the cost of attending college in the U.S. entirely on their own, which helps schools funnel more money to their American students.
'There's this perception that international students are coming here and that we are paying as Americans, and we're subsidizing them. But the fact is, it's really the reverse,' Beeler told The World.
Hundreds of universities across the country have international students on their campuses, but they are especially important to some of the nation's most prestigious colleges. New York University had more than 27,000 foreign students enrolled during the last academic year, by far the most of any school. Elite schools in the Northeast and the West Coast also rank in the top 10 for foreign student enrollment, along with a few top-flight schools in the middle of the country.
While foreign students are important wherever they attend, they are especially valuable in the places that they flock to in the highest numbers. California and New York, the top two states for international enrollment, both saw more than $6 billion in economic impact and over 50,000 jobs supported by visiting students during the last academic year, according to NAFSA data.
There is already some evidence that international enrollment may have dipped significantly for the current academic year, which started during the final months of the Biden administration. It's too early to know how big of an impact the Trump administration's policies will have on the number of students who both choose to and are allowed to come to the United States for their education. The next school year doesn't start for a few months, and there will undoubtedly be new developments, court rulings and changes to official procedures between now and then.