A new study by a coalition of education groups shows that enrolment of new international undergraduate students at US colleges fell by an average of 20 per cent this spring compared with a year earlier, highlighting the impact of President Donald Trump’s ongoing tensions with higher education on a major source of talent and funding.

The findings, released on Monday in a report by organisations including the international education association Nafsa, are based on a survey of 149 US institutions.

It found that 62 per cent of the schools recorded declines in foreign student enrolment across both undergraduate and graduate programmes compared with spring 2025.

International students, who typically pay full tuition, remain an important revenue stream for universities, particularly as domestic student populations decline.

The Trump administration has taken a tougher stance on foreign student enrolment as part of a wider push to reshape higher education and tighten immigration pathways.

Although spring intake is usually smaller than the fall semester, its enrolment patterns are often seen as an early indicator for the larger autumn cohort. A similar drop of around 20 per cent in the fall could leave some institutions facing significant budget pressures and funding gaps.

US universities began to see a shift last spring after Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained dozens of foreign students, in some cases on campus or inside student housing, and revoked the legal status of thousands more.

Although many of those students later had their status reinstated following a series of court rulings against the administration, the episode left a lasting impact on international student confidence and contributed to ongoing concerns about studying in the United States.

Overall international enrolment in the US fell by 1.4 per cent last fall compared with the previous year.

However, most students who applied for college during that period had begun their application process before the White House intensified its efforts to restrict foreign enrolment.

The situation escalated later, with ICE beginning to target students in March.

By May, the State Department had also paused student visa interviews during the peak processing season, as it prepared to introduce stricter review policies that took effect in June.

In the survey, 84 per cent of US institutions cited “restrictive government policies” as the primary driver of the decline, while more than a third said the drop is likely to force budget cuts. Last summer, student visa issuances fell by 36 per cent.

The Nafsa survey, conducted with other international education organisations, gathered responses from hundreds of colleges worldwide, including in Canada, Australia and the UK, three major destinations for international students.

Those countries also reported declines in international student enrolment this spring, with respondents linking the trend to increasingly restrictive immigration policies.