Claire is worried about her son in college. She lives in Beijing — half a world away from where he is studying in the United States. Though he enrolled before President Donald Trump was elected, the anti-immigrant rhetoric and political shift over the past few months have drastically changed their views on studying in the U.S.
“I think the government is really hostile right now,” Claire said. GBH News is identifying her only by first name to protect her family.
Claire also has a daughter in high school who was thinking about colleges in the United States. Now they’re rethinking her plans and looking at schools in the United Kingdom, Canada, Singapore and Hong Kong.
“We have to consider all the possibilities,” she said. “Next year, when my child has to go to college, Trump is still the president.”
As U.S. colleges confront a sharp decline in domestic college-aged students, many schools began relying on international students to fill classrooms and balance budgets. But under the policies of President Trump’s second administration, families like Claire’s — and people who work in higher ed — say that pipeline may be drying up.
Since Trump’s return to office, his administration has revoked more than a thousand student visas, often without explanation. The government has since said it will restore some international students’ status, but other student activists have been detained and even face deportation.
Many international students now avoid speaking publicly, afraid of government retaliation or online harassment.
Frank Zhou, a Chinese American student journalist at Harvard, has seen that fear up close. He said it’s been difficult for him and fellow reporters at The Crimson student newspaper to build trust with international students on campus, who make up more than a quarter of Harvard’s enrollment.
“The overwhelming sentiment is anxiety,” said Zhou. “There are so many international student group chats, where students are saying, ‘Oh my gosh, there are ICE agents on campus and this is the exit route.’ It’s quite the Armageddon scenario.”
In April, Harvard students and faculty rallied outside Memorial Church, waving American flags and protesting the Trump administration’s crackdown on international visas and their effort to strip the university of its tax-exempt status.
“At first, I was very anxious about speaking up,” said Leo Gerdén, a senior from Sweden.
He said the Trump administration is trying to divide the campus community.
“They want us to point fingers to each other and say, ‘You know, deport them, don’t deport us,’” he said. “It’s a classic authoritarian playbook and that is what we can’t accept.”
Ripple effects of declining enrollment
International students often pay full tuition, and as U.S. enrollment declines, their presence is more essential than ever. Experts say a sizable drop in international students will impact both colleges’ bottom lines and the broader economy.
Foreign students pumped an estimated $44 billion into the U.S. economy in the 2023-2024 academic year through both direct spending and jobs, including $4 billion in Massachusetts alone, according to the NAFSA Association of International Educators.
During Trump’s first term, visa restrictions and travel bans contributed to a 12% drop in new international enrollment. This time around, many fear the impact could be worse.
A new survey by the resource site Studyportals in collaboration with NAFSA shows international undergraduate enrollment in the U.S. has stalled this year. And 13% of higher education institutions in the U.S. reported declines in postgraduate enrollment, where most international students are concentrated.
At the same time, U.S. research funding cuts are forcing schools like UMass Medical, Iowa State University, the University of Pennsylvania and West Virginia University to rescind graduate admissions offers. Those decisions are hitting international students especially hard.
Meanwhile, many countries are beefing up their international recruitment efforts to attract students who may have been considering a school in the U.S., including France, Japan, South Korea and Spain — but also countries that hadn’t recruited before, like Poland and Kazakhstan.
Xiaofeng Wan, a private college consultant helping Chinese families navigate the path to U.S. colleges, said America has “an image problem.”
“They see the United States as a primary study abroad destination,” he said. Yet, because of Republicans’ rhetoric, student visa revocations and recent warnings from the Chinese government, Wan expects to see more families considering options other than the U.S.
In March, House Republicans sentletters to six universities saying “America’s student visa system has become a Trojan horse for Beijing.”
“That’s what they’ve been hearing from President Trump, his rhetoric toward Chinese students,” Wan said.
Gerardo Blanco, who heads Boston College’s Center for International Higher Education, said that anti-immigrant political rhetoric is powerful. One survey at the start of Trump’s second term found that nearly 60% of European students were less interested in coming to the U.S.
Considering the demographic cliff colleges face today because of declining birth rates 18 years ago during the Great Recession, the timing for all of this uncertainty couldn’t be worse.
“The clock is ticking, and nobody really knows what’s happening,” Blanco said.
He warns Trump’s approach — combined with federal funding cuts — is putting U.S. colleges at risk of losing a generation of global talent in an already competitive marketplace.
“Historically, we’ve had the ability to attract the greatest talent in any field from around the world,“ he said. ”But this is just making it like 'The Hunger Games,' and it’s really putting international students in a very precarious situation.”
Blanco said American colleges need to do more to defend the value of international student mobility — not just for their institutions, but for the country.
A shrinking pool of international and domestic students could further lead to talent shortages in industries that increasingly require college degrees, putting the U.S. at a disadvantage.
It all comes back to protests
Critics say the government is putting up too many barriers. The Trump administration, for example, has demanded Harvard turn over detailed records of all foreign students’ “illegal and violent activities” or lose the right to enroll any international students.
In a three-page letter sent last week to Harvard President Alan Garber, U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon accused Harvard of enrolling foreign students who showed contempt for the U.S. and fueling antisemitism.
In a call with alumni, Garber acknowledged a “kernel of truth” to those claims, but said the larger threat is the government trying to control Harvard’s admissions and hiring. Harvard is suing the administration, though it’s also quietly complied with some demands. That’s left some faculty and students feeling uneasy.
Meanwhile, conservatives argue tighter visa controls are justified for national security reasons following a year of disruptive, sometimes violent protests over the war in Gaza.
“If your primary focus is to protest and vandalism, I think you’re on the wrong type of visa,” said Simon Hankinson, a senior fellow with the Heritage Foundation. “We don’t have a visa for that.”
Hankinson, a former foreign service officer, doubts stricter immigration enforcement will scare off students in the long run.
“Are people not going to go to Harvard because they’re afraid that they’re going to get hassled? No.” he said. “Try going to Russia or China and speaking your mind. Good luck with that.”
Hankinson said he believes that elite institutions have a financial incentive to inflate the threat, especially those with high international enrollment like Columbia, NYU, Northeastern and Boston University.
“It’s a strong constituency that they want to keep happy and they want to keep the money flowing,” he said. “So they want to make this as big an issue as possible.”
GBH’s Robert Goulston contributed reporting from Cambridge.
This story is part of GBH’s podcast College Uncovered. The latest episode “The Student Trade Wars” is out now.
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