International student enrollment at U.S. colleges and universities has dropped sharply this fall, marking the first full academic year under President Donald Trump’s second term. Admissions officers say heightened visa scrutiny and broader immigration restrictions are discouraging many prospective students, contributing to the decline.
New data released Monday by the Institute of International Education shows that first-time international enrollment fell 17% in fall 2025 — the steepest drop outside the pandemic in more than a decade. The nonprofit, which tracks global student mobility, says the downturn highlights the growing barriers facing students hoping to study in the United States.
The early figures cover only a portion of U.S. campuses but follow an already troubling trend: a 7% decline in new international students during the 2024–25 academic year. Taken together, the back-to-back drops point to a deepening slowdown in the flow of foreign students to American institutions. According to the IIE’s latest Open Doors snapshot, more than half of the 825 colleges and universities surveyed reported declines in new international students for fall 2025, reinforcing concerns that the downturn is widespread rather than isolated.
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The Trump administration’s actions earlier this year had already unsettled campuses, disrupting the spring semester for thousands of international students and creating uncertainty over fall enrollment. Many faced sudden visa cancellations, lengthy legal disputes over their ability to continue their studies and, in some cases, detention by immigration authorities related to their political activity. The turmoil left students and universities bracing for further instability as the new academic year approached.
“The U.S. is no longer the central place that students aspire to come to,” said Fanta Aw, CEO of NAFSA: Association of International Educators. She cited mounting visa hurdles as a key factor, arguing that difficulty securing entry has made the country “less competitive” internationally. The IIE report reflects that concern, showing that 96% of surveyed colleges identified visa processing problems as a major barrier to enrolling new students.
Aw noted that visa challenges were straining enrollment even before President Trump returned to office. High refusal rates in countries such as India and parts of sub-Saharan Africa contributed to last year’s 7% decline. The situation worsened this spring when the administration halted new student visa interviews in May, causing significant delays and deepening the application backlog.
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Aw also stressed that the financial impact reaches far beyond university budgets. International students support local economies by renting housing, buying goods and services, purchasing health insurance and attracting visiting family members. NAFSA’s analysis estimates that every three international students help create or sustain one American job, underscoring their broader economic value.
Massachusetts remains one of the country’s largest destinations for international students, hosting more than 84,000 of them last academic year and generating an estimated $3.55 billion in spending, according to separate IIE data. Most students came from India, followed by China, Canada, South Korea and Vietnam. Northeastern University, Boston University, Harvard University, MIT and UMass Amherst enrolled the largest shares.
Northeastern counted 25,042 international students this fall, a decrease of 538 from the previous year — a figure that includes graduate students completing their final year of work authorization. MIT reported 3,475 international students, with undergraduate numbers holding steady and graduate enrollment rising slightly by 20 students.
Harvard University’s international enrollment remains unknown for now. Jason Newton, a university spokesperson, said Harvard does not plan to release comprehensive enrollment data until early 2026.