International Student Enrollment Falls at US Grad Schools

International student enrollment at American colleges dropped again this fall, and graduate programs took most of the loss. Nearly six in 10 US colleges reported fewer international graduate students than a year earlier, according to a benchmark survey released this week by Studyportals, NAFSA: Association of International Educators and Oxford Test of English, with 90 percent of US respondents naming restrictive federal policy as a significant obstacle, Higher Ed Dive reported. The results land while Washington is still weighing new costs on the student-to-work pipeline.

The timing matters because the August-to-October intake is the main start of the academic year, when most new international students arrive. It is the first full intake that reflects this year’s stack of student policy changes: tighter consular screening, internship limits that universities are fighting in court, and a proposed $70,000 Optional Practical Training fee on schools that colleges say would cost them billions.

International student enrollment: graduate programs absorb the drop

The survey covered 437 institutions in 63 countries reporting on their fall 2026 intake. Worldwide, 48 percent reported fewer international postgraduates, against 38 percent reporting fewer undergraduates, and the losses cluster in the four big English-speaking destinations while continental Europe and Asia moved the other way, according to Studyportals. The US figures come from 203 American institutions surveyed Oct. 5 to 26, which reported an average 13 percent decline in international graduate students, Higher Ed Dive reported.

Finding	Share of institutions
Fewer international postgraduates, all 63 countries	48%
Fewer international postgraduates, US, UK, Canada and Australia	62%
Fewer international postgraduates, all other countries	27%
Fewer international postgraduates, UK (up from 50% a year earlier)	79%
US colleges with fewer international graduate students	Nearly 6 in 10
US colleges with fewer international undergraduates	45%
Visa and government policy a significant issue, all countries	73%
Restrictive federal policy a significant obstacle, US colleges	90%

Sources: Studyportals Global Enrolment Benchmark Survey, August to October 2026 intake (global rows); US rows as reported by Higher Ed Dive from the same survey.

Why the master’s student walks away first

The graduate-heavy pattern is not an accident. The typical international master’s student in the United States usually pays full tuition for a one- or two-year degree whose value depends heavily on what follows: OPT, the 24-month STEM extension and, for many, an H-1B registration. When that work path looks costlier or less certain, the master’s applicant is the one most likely to defer, choose Europe or Asia, or stay home.

Federal data point the same way. Active student records in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System fell 7.1 percent, to 1,192,572 in October 2026 from 1,283,240 a year earlier, according to SEVIS figures reported by the Indian wire service IANS, with Indian master’s records down about 20 percent. Earlier, a Migration Policy Institute analysis of State Department data found student and exchange visa issuance down 29 percent from October 2025 through February 2026. For scale, the State Department issued 400,737 F-1 visas in fiscal 2024.

Two cautions apply. The benchmark measures how many institutions saw declines and how large they said those declines were, not a census of students, and the colleges answering it have a direct financial stake in the policies they are rating. SEVIS also counts graduates working on OPT, so part of that decline reflects people leaving the system rather than fewer arrivals. Still, three separate measures, from visa stamps to SEVIS records to campus rosters, now point in the same direction.

What colleges expect next

US respondents were not expecting a rebound. Forty-four percent expect international numbers to hold at this year’s lower level next year and 37 percent expect a further decline, Higher Ed Dive reported. Colleges’ main responses are recruiting in new countries (37 percent), expanding online programs (32 percent) and cutting budgets (30 percent). NAFSA chief executive Fanta Aw said in a statement that “national policies matter to international students making major decisions about where to study.”

The survey was taken before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, Reuters noted. That matters less than it might seem: consular vetting, SEVIS rules and the OPT fee are agency decisions, which Congress can change only through legislation or funding riders.

The downstream effect is easier to forecast than the politics. A thinner master’s class in 2026 means smaller OPT and STEM OPT cohorts in 2027 and 2028, fewer US-educated candidates in future H-1B registrations and less tuition revenue for the regional public universities and graduate schools that lean most on international enrollment. The next markers are the Institute of International Education’s annual Open Doors report, usually released in mid-November, DHS’s final decision on the OPT fee, and a Dec. 7 briefing at which the survey’s sponsors plan to walk through the results.

Overall, this could be a temporary phase and if a new democratic administration takes over you can see a reversal in all the policies and inflow of international students will increase. But one concern could be that many of the changes brought about by current administration is through rule making and it will take significant time to undo. Or the school would have to resort to stalling each of the new rules in the courts, like they were successful in stopping the F-1 end of DOS rule from taking effect.

This article is for general information and is not legal advice.

Sources

Vasanth Vaidyanathan, Esq.

Administrator

Vasanth Vaidyanathan is an immigration attorney with over 20 years of experience focused exclusively on U.S. immigration and nationality law. He holds an LL.M. from California Western School of Law, San Diego and advises individuals and businesses on employment and family-based immigration matters, including H-1B, PERM, EB categories, and adjustment of status. He has also been a featured speaker at immigration seminars across the U.S. To reach Vasanth visit: https://www.vnathan.com/

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