Fewer international students are heading to universities in Illinois and across the country this fall, early data show, amid efforts by the Trump administration to cut down on the number of foreign students studying on American campuses.
Data from at least three schools — DePaul, the University of Illinois Chicago and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign — show declines in international enrollment among graduate students.
The resulting drops in tuition revenue are squeezing universities’ finances, and faculty say fewer international students on campus will hurt teaching and research.
“Much of the work that academics and particularly scientists do is international,” said Northwestern University Professor Leslie Harris. “It’s without borders, because we’re all struggling with the same things: hunger, medical care, global warming. These are not problems that respect national boundaries and so it is necessary for us to share research across borders and to share students.”
Northwestern and the University of Chicago, both of which serve substantial numbers of foreign students, did not respond to requests for the number of international students on their campuses this fall. But DePaul University in Lincoln Park has been hit especially hard. About 750 fewer international students are attending class there, according to a recent message from DePaul President Robert Manuel. The number of new graduate students from other countries has dropped by nearly 62% compared to last year.
“Significant shifts in the higher education landscape continue to create a palpable sense of fear and anxiety in our community,” Manuel said. “We are all worried about the safety of our community members, the safeguarding of academic freedom, and the new financial challenges driven by changes in federal funding and visa processing. These concerns are so severe and debilitating that it’s getting hard to recognize higher education anymore.”
The drop in international student enrollment and other financial challenges, like the increasing cost of financial aid and employee benefits, Manuel said, is forcing the school to pursue immediate spending reductions. The president said the school is considering cutting executive pay, freezing staff hiring and slowing faculty appointments.
Public universities are feeling impacts too. International student enrollment at the University of Illinois Chicago, the city’s largest public university, dropped by 4.9%, a spokesperson said, driven primarily by a decrease in the number of graduate students from other countries.
Institutional data show the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign saw a decrease in international graduate student enrollment, although foreign undergraduate students on that campus increased. In total the school enrolled 13,268 international students this fall, 45% of whom are undergraduates and 55% of whom are professional and graduate students. Total UIUC enrollment is nearly 61,000.
According to the Institute of International Education, which tracks the number of students from other countries studying at American campuses, UIUC serves the second-largest number of international students of any U.S. public university. Most are from China, India and South Korea, UIUC data show.
Neither UIUC or UIC officials responded to questions about how fluctuations in international student enrollment are impacting their institutions’ finances.
Losing students, losing revenue
As Illinois has decreased taxpayer funding for its public universities, many have come to rely on international students to boost revenue. That source of funds has likely become more important as President Donald Trump has stripped millions in federal grants from colleges in Illinois and nationwide.
Students from other countries pay much more to attend public colleges. At UIUC, an international undergraduate studying engineering could pay almost $70,000 this year for tuition, housing and fees. A student from Illinois studying the same would pay just over $42,000.
International students play a large role both in the financial health of their universities and in the surrounding communities. According to NAFSA: Association of International Education, more than 60,000 people from other countries studied in Illinois in the 2023-2024 school year and contributed $2.4 billion to the state’s economy.
Across the country the nonprofit predicted a 30% to 40% decline in new international students this school year, resulting in a 15% drop in overall enrollment in American higher education, $7 billion in lost revenue and more than 60,000 fewer jobs.
Federal officials have slowed down student visa appointments, proposed four-year limits for visa holders and started screening visa applicants’ social media accounts for speech said to threaten national security.
In the spring federal agents abruptly revoked the visas of thousands of students across the United States before reversing course. This month the Trump administration offered universities priority funding consideration if they agreed to, among several other things, cap international student enrollment at 15%.
These actions, alongside recent immigration raids across the Chicago area, have made some foreign students reconsider studying here — and have prevented others from getting visas to be able to do so.
“The perception of these schools is that international students will not be safe,” said Micol Bez, an international student earning her PhD at Northwestern. “It’s not just a perception – it’s a fact … . And so if I had a child who wanted to study something specific and proposed the U.S. as an option, I would propose any number of other countries.”