Effects of declining international student enrollment on universities

ImmigrationProf Blog has reported the decline in international students during COVID-19 and a raft of actual or proposed restrictions on student visas. With a new school year approaching, international students facing vaccine mandates despite insufficient vaccine availability in other countries (or even administration of vaccines not approved for use in the US) will have new impediments. This is especially true in places like India that have become hot spots for the virus and that send large shares of international students.

The effects of these declines are now being felt in universities nationwide. An NPR story reports that enrollments fell by a dramatic 20% last year and that the declines cost universities nearly $10 billion dollars in lost revenue, as foreign students typically pay high tuition fees that subsidize U.S. students. While the Trump administration expressed hostility toward both international students and universities, the Biden administration recently called it a “foreign policy imperative” that the U.S. remain the top study destination for international students. The shift has been rhetorical and measurable. Samantha Powers urged Biden to act on the issue in an essay in Foreign Affairs, and his administratino has in turn prioritized student visas for visa processing. Yet international students themselves are feeling increasing ambivalence over their ability to finish degrees in the US, their physical safety amid virulent anti-immigrant and anti-Asian hate, and their future career prospects in the U.S. (a finding also reported in my book, Pursuing Citizenship in the Enforcement Era.)

A collaboration between The Chronicle of Higher Education and APM Reports provides more context on international students in the US. The full documentary Fading Beacon: Why America is Losing International Students is airing on public radio stations across the country and available via the podcast Educate. 

MHC