Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: With the Trump administration’s controversial policies wreaking havoc within the US and without, the number of visitors to America arriving on student visas plunged sharply in July, falling year-on-year for a fourth straight month, the media reported on Tuesday.
The declines were most pronounced from Asia, the largest international education market, as the Trump administration’s immigration policies created bottlenecks and a chilling effect on prospective students.
Total arrivals on student visas decreased 28 percent to less than 79,000, the biggest monthly drop so far this year, data from the International Trade Administration show.
A record 1.1 million international students enrolled in the US higher education institutions in the 2023-24 school year, according to Open Doors, which collects data on foreign scholars. India was the top country, with nearly 332,000 students, followed by China with about 277,000 that academic year.
This year, however, student arrivals from India plummeted 46 percent while China posted a 26 percent decline. The twin drops from the two largest sources of foreign students provides a grim snapshot that threatens to disrupt the financial models of US colleges and universities which heavily depend on revenues they earn from foreign students.
American universities have already warned that first-time foreign student enrolment on campuses is projected to diminish by about 30 percent this fall, potentially costing the education sector USD 2.6 billion in tuition revenue alone. The sharp downturn follows a series of policy changes and administrative hurdles from the White House around tightening immigration and foreign student scrutiny.
The Trump administration’s measures have created a climate of uncertainty and resulted in significant backlogs and delays at US embassies and consulates in key Asian markets.
“There are real reasons for concern,” said Zuzana Cepla Wootson, deputy director of federal policy at the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, whose members are university leaders. “It’s part of a broader pattern under this administration. The travel ban, expanded screening processes, appointment backlogs — all these create uncertainty for students from China, India and beyond,” the reports said.
The Trump administration announced a pause in interviews for student visas in late May. In mid-June, the State Department said it would resume interviews, while also ordering reviews of applicants’ social-media profiles. The timing of these policies, during the peak summer visa application season, was particularly damaging and doesn’t bode well for student arrivals in August, which historically is the peak month for new students entering the US.
The visitor arrival figures don’t break down whether those coming in are new or returning students. Many already on student visas may have chosen to stay in the US and not travel this summer due to the administration’s scrutiny of international scholars, Wootson said.
Officials at schools with large Asian student populations, such as the University of Southern California (USC), have said that that a continued decline could result in tens of millions of dollars in lost revenue. The USC already faces a deficit of USD 200 million. Arizona State University President Michael Crow also said visa delays have been more disruptive than the pandemic