Overview

• Federal arrival records from the Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration show August entries fell 19.1% year over year to about 313,000, a key early signal for fall enrollment.
• Asia posted a nearly 24% decline, India plunged 44.5% (over 33,000 fewer arrivals), Africa fell about 32%, and mainland China dropped 12.4%; Asia still accounted for roughly 60% of August student entries.
• Enrollment experts link the downturn to a late‑May three‑week pause in student‑visa interviews, expanded social‑media vetting, new travel restrictions, and threats to deport students, which together created consular backlogs and uncertainty.
• Universities report steep drops in new international intake, including a 62% fall in new international graduate enrollments at DePaul and a halving at the University of Central Missouri; NAFSA warns of potential $7 billion in lost local spending and more than 60,000 jobs at risk.
• Some students avoided travel due to re‑entry fears or are choosing Canada, the UK, Australia, Germany, and Singapore instead; analysts note arrival data exclude late September entrants and conflict with a separate federal tracker that some experts say is unreliable.