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As the Trump administration announces sweeping changes to make it more difficult for colleges and universities to welcome international students, some schools are more vulnerable than others to the drops in enrollment that could result.

About 1 million international students with visas were enrolled in U.S. institutions as of fall 2023, according to The Hechinger Report’s analysis of U.S. Department of Education data.  These students typically pay the full cost of attendance, helping to boost colleges’ budgets and subsidize tuition for American students. Many schools enroll thousands of foreign students, and some smaller colleges rely on them to fill their seats.

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This spring, the Trump administration revoked the visas of more than 1,600 international students and canceled the legal status of more than 4,700 international students — some because of their involvement in pro-Palestinian campus protests. Following court orders temporarily restoring the legal status of students who had filed suit claiming the move was illegal, federal officials said they would restore the legal status of hundreds of those students, but the administration has said it’s working on a new policy for stripping students’ legal status that would affect universities nationwide. Meanwhile, the State Department has announced a new comprehensive vetting process of international students’ social media profiles and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the administration will “aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students.” A federal judge has blocked, for now, the Trump administration’s complete ban on international students at Harvard University. 

Read more of our coverage of international students or search the table below to see what share of such students each college enrolls.

Some key findings from the Hechinger Report’s analysis of U.S. Department of Education data on international students:

  • States with the highest per capita enrollment of international students are Massachusetts, New York, Indiana, Delaware, Connecticut, Missouri and Illinois.
  • International students with visas made up 10 percent of students enrolled at private not-for-profit four-year universities — compared with 6 percent at public universities and 2 percent at for-profit institutions.
  • Even so, public institutions — including community colleges — still enroll higher total numbers of international students, with roughly 600,000 nonresident students. That’s compared with more than 400,000 at private not-for-profit colleges and universities.
  • Colleges and universities with the highest percentage of international students include small business schools, art schools, religious institutions and science and technology universities. 

Note: This analysis relies on data about student enrollment collected annually from 6,000 colleges, universities and technical and vocational institutions by the Department of Education through the National Center for Education Statistics’ Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. IPEDS’ enrollment data defines a nonresident student as “a person who is not a citizen or national of the United States and who is in this country on a visa or temporary basis and does not have the right to remain indefinitely.”

Contact investigative reporter Marina Villeneuve at 212-678-3430 or villeneuve@hechingerreport.org or on Signal at mvilleneuve.78

This story about international students was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for the Hechinger newsletter.

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