Inside Higher Ed reports: New Student Visas Dropped 23% in 2025.
Twenty-three percent fewer student visas were issued in 2025 compared to the previous year, according to newly released Department of State figures. Some countries, like Iran, Myanmar and Venezuela, saw declines over 70 percent from year to year. India, the second-largest supplier of international students to the U.S. in 2024, also experienced a precipitous 56.6 percent drop.
An Inside Higher Ed analysis of the data shows that visa issuances were essentially in line with the previous year for the first several months of 2025 but dropped in May—the same month President Donald Trump paused all student visa interviews to implement new social media screenings for those applicants. The number of student visas issued remained below 2024 levels for the remainder of the year.
Not only has the administration made the process more difficult, but it has made the US less attractive as a destination.
At the same time, studying in the U.S. has become less appealing to some students amid the Trump administration’s larger crackdown on immigration. The Common App recently reported declines in applications from international students to study in the U.S. for the 2026–27 academic year. New regulations limiting how long students may study in the U.S. and ongoing concerns that the Trump administration plans to close off pipelines for students to work in the country after they graduate are making the U.S. a less appealing place to earn a degree, some experts say.
All of this is the direct result of a xenophobic set of policy choices.
It is foolish for a variety of reasons. Let me be blunt about the economic and power dynamics of the situation.
First is trade. Higher ed is an area, as I have previously noted, where the US has a trade surplus. Setting aside abstract goods (I will get to that in a moment), this is very much cash-on-the-barrelhead kind of stuff. Restricting the market means fewer dollars flowing into US colleges and universities as well as into the communities where they are housed. As I have noted before, international students almost certainly pay full tuition, and usually at the out-of-state rate. Further, in an era wherein the domestic market is not growing at the rate that many schools need, the only source for significant enrollment growth is the international market.
Yet again, for the president who is supposed to run the government like a business, Trump has an astoundingly poor understanding of the basics (shocking, I know).
Second, there is the soft power of it all. Of course, this administration thinks that everything is about bullying and tough guy posturing, but the US would be far better off in the long run if the elites in countries around the world were US-educated and had learned to have some affection and understanding for the US and its culture. While I will readily allow that foreign students can come to the US with an adversarial attitude towards the US and leave with one intact, the reality is that the odds of creating shared bonds around the world are far higher by letting young people around the world study here than by keeping them out.
Third, the brain drain of the rest of the world. A great way to, dare I say, help make America “great” is to create an environment wherein the top scientists, engineers, artists, educators, thinkers, etc. end up staying and working in the United States. Again, it’s basic economics.
Look, I value education for education’s sake. I think that creating and maintaining the best higher education system in the world is an unvarnished good that we should nurture and cultivate because it makes the world a better place. Such a system should attract students worldwide, and I think that a more educated planet makes us all better off. I am not suggesting some kind of national chauvinism over knowledge, nor am I suggesting that the US is the only place to get educated.
But since this administration loves to talk in terms of power and greatness, it seems worth remembering that, without any doubt, the US system of higher education is a major industry and a major export. It is also the case that, despite all the derision aimed at higher ed, especially by the right, education is the driver of the economy. You do not get, well, much of anything without an educated population (not that that always means higher ed).
But in addition to this core reality that knowledge and expertise make the world function to the greater benefit of humankind, there is just no denying that international students are a net economic boon for the US, and cutting the supply because foreigners are icky is just counterproductive policy.
I mean, what’s next? Alienating Europe? Starting a fight with Canada?
[Checks notes].
Wait, what?
A lot of people should have taken a few international relations courses. We would be better off if they learned the right lessons.
