Is the American Dream fading? Foreign students dip by 5,000, grads by 6%

New enrolment data shows international student numbers fell in autumn 2025, with graduate programmes taking the hardest hit amid visa pressure

Is the American Dream fading? New data suggests fewer international students are choosing what were once the most sought-after universities in the United States, with overseas enrolment slipping for the first time in three years as immigration rules tighten and political pressure builds on elite campuses.

 

Foreign student numbers fell by close to 5,000 in the autumn term, even as total enrolment across US colleges and universities rose by 1 per cent, according to figures released on Thursday by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. The fall was concentrated in graduate programmes, where international enrolment dropped by 6 per cent, or nearly 10,000 students, after surging more than 50 per cent between 2020 and 2024.

   

The downturn comes as President Donald Trump pushes sweeping changes across higher education. Wealthier universities are dealing with a higher endowment tax under last year’s tax-and-spending law, while several leading institutions are also facing federal funding freezes.

 

International students have long been prized by universities because many pay full tuition. Personal and family funds were the main source of finance for 51 per cent of international students in the 2024–25 academic year, according to the Institute of International Education. At the same time, the Trump administration has introduced travel bans, slowed visa processing and warned of deportations for campus activists. Earlier this week, the Department of State said on X that it had revoked 8,000 student visas as part of its effort to “keep America safe”.

 

 

Key points

 

• International student numbers fell by nearly 5,000 in autumn 2025

• Graduate international enrolment dropped by about 6 per cent, or nearly 10,000 students

• Undergraduate international enrolment rose 3.2 per cent, adding around 5,000 students

• Total US enrolment reached 19.4 million students, up 1 per cent

• Community college enrolment grew by 3 per cent

• Private four-year colleges saw enrolment fall by up to 2 per cent

• Computer and information science enrolment declined for the first time since 2020

• Graduate computer science enrolment fell by 14 per cent

• Harvard’s international students made up 28 per cent of enrolment

• Indian student numbers at Harvard fell by about 31 per cent

 

Overall enrolment trends this fall

 

The Clearinghouse’s Final Fall Enrollment Trends 2025 report shows more than 19.4 million students enrolled in postsecondary education in autumn 2025, with 16.2 million undergraduates and 3.2 million graduate students.

 

Compared with 19.2 million students last year, total enrolment rose by 1 per cent. Undergraduate numbers increased by 1.2 per cent, while graduate enrolment was largely flat, edging down by 0.3 per cent.

 

Community colleges drove much of the undergraduate growth, with enrolment rising by 3 per cent. Public four-year institutions recorded a 1.4 per cent increase, while private four-year colleges saw declines of 1.6 per cent at non-profits and 2 per cent at for-profits.

 

Certificate and associate degree programmes continued to expand faster than bachelor’s degrees, growing by 1.9 per cent and 2.2 per cent respectively, compared with 0.9 per cent growth in bachelor’s programmes. Community colleges now have 752,000 students enrolled in undergraduate certificate courses, a rise of 28.3 per cent since autumn 2021.

 

 

Where international students are falling away

 

Graduate international student enrolment fell by 5.9 per cent, reversing several years of steady growth. At the undergraduate level, international enrolment rose by 3.2 per cent, or around 5,000 students, but at less than half the pace seen last year.

 

Freshman enrolment was broadly unchanged at 2.5 million students. Public four-year institutions added 18,000 first-year students, taking their total to 971,000, while private four-year colleges lost about 10,000 students in each sector. Community colleges enrolled 965,000 freshmen, up by just 4,000 students after three years of stronger growth.

 

Computer and information science programmes, a popular choice among international students, recorded declines across all levels, ranging from a 3.6 per cent drop in undergraduate programmes to a 14 per cent fall at the graduate level.

 

Matthew Holsapple, senior director of research at the Clearinghouse, described the graduate student decline as a sharp change in conditions.

 

“It follows several years of strong growth, making this year’s downturn a pretty meaningful shift after that long period of expansion,” he said.

 

Campus-level impact

 

At Lewis University, a private institution outside Chicago, a summer pause in visa processing was followed by a 37 per cent fall in new international enrolment in graduate programmes. The drop led the university to cut 10 per cent of its workforce.

 

Patterns vary sharply by institution. While international numbers shrank at the graduate level nationwide, undergraduate international enrolment continued to grow, though more slowly than before.

 

Harvard University reported a record number of international students this academic year, bucking the broader trend. International students made up 28 per cent of its student body in autumn 2025, or 6,749 students, the highest figure since at least 2002.

 

Indian student numbers at Harvard, however, moved in the opposite direction. University data shows Indian enrolment fell by about 31 per cent compared with the previous academic year.

 

Adarsh Khandelwal, co-founder of college counselling firm Collegify, said many prospective students are narrowing their focus.

 

“Now the feeling in this part of the world is that if you want to go to the US, you should only look at a top school because only then you’ll have a good future or a good job or a good ROI,” he told Bloomberg.

 

Khandelwal said students who once applied to around eight universities, including liberal arts colleges, are now sending out almost twice as many applications, but only to the most competitive institutions. Visa scrutiny and a weak jobs market are shaping those choices.

 

Visa pressures and budget strain

 

DePaul University in Chicago has also seen steep losses. In autumn 2025, its total international student population fell by 755 students compared with a year earlier. New international graduate enrolment dropped by nearly 62 per cent.

 

The university linked the fall to visa difficulties and what it called a “declining desire for international students to study in the U.S.”

 

“Our FY26 budget planning did not anticipate a reduction of this magnitude,” DePaul’s leadership team wrote in a September message announcing spending cuts.

 

Cost and course choices

 

The fall in computer and information science enrolment marks the first decline in the field since 2020. Graduate enrolment fell by 14 per cent and undergraduate enrolment by 3.6 per cent, after the subject recorded 30 per cent growth between 2020 and 2024.

 

Across the sector, students appear to be shifting away from private four-year colleges, where enrolment fell by 1.6 per cent, and towards public universities and community colleges, which grew by 1.4 per cent and 3 per cent respectively.

 

“It’s a clear departure from the broad-based growth we’ve seen in recent years, when publics and privates have moved together and not in opposing directions,” Holsapple said. “The split is striking.”

 

Undergraduates are also leaning towards lower-cost options. Certificate and associate degree programmes are expanding faster than bachelor’s degrees, suggesting a growing focus on affordability and quicker routes into work.