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Until this year, UCLA senior Syed Tamim Ahmad considered staying in the U.S. after graduation to pursue his dream of becoming a doctor. But when the Trump administration revoked thousands of student visas last spring, he spent many sleepless nights supporting his peers as his school’s international student representative. The experience left him exhausted.
Ultimately, most student visas were reinstated following pressure from courts and judges nationwide. But the speed and intensity of the revocations — coupled with a lack of institutional support — caused distrust and anxiety for international students like Ahmad.
“After all that fiasco, I decided no, not anymore,” said Ahmad, who was born in India and raised in the United Arab Emirates.
Ahmad, an integrated biology and physiological sciences major, is now planning to go to medical school in Australia, where he said he can do research “in peace” without fearing changes to his visa status or funding.
A recent report by the Institute of International Education shows that the number of international college students in the U.S. is mostly stable for now, with just a 1% decrease in enrollment this fall. However, the report also found a 17% decline in new international students enrolling in American colleges and universities.
And from what students like Ahmad are saying, fewer are also likely to stay in the U.S. after graduation.
Tightening federal policies about who can live and work in the U.S. from abroad threaten further decreases in enrollment and losses of talent. International students bring diverse viewpoints and perspectives that enrich the classroom environment and lead to scientific and economic advancements, researchers and faculty alike told CalMatters.
The National Science Board found in a 2022 report that more temporary visa holders earn STEM doctorates than citizens and permanent residents combined, while international students earn a disproportionate amount of doctoral degrees in critical and emerging technologies. Foreign students in particular drive scientific research and advancement in the U.S.
Over 1.1 million international students studied in the U.S. during the last academic year. Of those students, 12.5% — over 140,000 — studied in California, making it the state with the largest international student population.
Last fall, international students made up 12% of the total student enrollment in the University of California system, with over 35,000 students from foreign countries. The California State University system enrolls nearly 14,000 international students, or about 3% of total enrollment.
This fall, the Cal State number has dropped to 12,122 students, according to the Cal State data dashboard. An official with the University of California Office of the President said the UC will not release enrollment data until later in December or January.
The Institute of International Education collected responses from 828 U.S. higher education institutions for its report. While it is unclear how many of these were California institutions, the report states that 22% of responses were from western states.
The UC system has faced pressure from the California Legislature in recent years to increase the number of students from California. In response, the UC’s 2030 Capacity Plan proposed decreasing the amount of nonresident students. UC Regents also increased tuition for incoming nonresident students by over $3,400 starting this fall.
Scenario modeling from the Association of International Educators showed California facing a projected 15% decline in overall international student enrollment this academic year. This would mean over 7,000 fewer international students for California’s two public university systems. The education nonprofit projects this drop could result in California losing more than $1 billion in revenue — based on the tuition and living expenses foreign students must pay — with similar enrollment trends across the country driving losses of nearly $7 billion nationwide.
Current realities for international students in California
Dorothy, an undergraduate student from China and opinion columnist for The Daily Cal at UC Berkeley, said anxiety has increased among her peers under Trump’s presidency. She asked that her full name not be published due to fear of retaliation from the federal government.
Recently, her reporting on the international student experience in California has been bleak.
“A lot of students are just debating whether they should focus their future on their home country or continue to seek employment here” after graduating, she said.
She also said no amount of support from her university would be enough to make her feel fully secure from federal policy.
“If I get my visa revoked, I [won’t] be able to just come back and continue my education here, because [the decision] can be overruled by a larger government,” she said.
The total number of foreign students pursuing higher education in the U.S. under the F-1 visa, which classifies holders as nonimmigrant full-time students, had steadily increased since 2020, surpassing pre-COVID numbers in 2024.
At the same time, the number of foreign students on temporary work authorizations, called Optional Practical Training, also increased. In the last academic year, nearly 300,000 foreign students were working with the authorization, a 21% increase from the prior year. Part of this accounted for graduate students entering the workforce.
But graduate student numbers are also declining. This fall, graduate enrollment decreased by 12%, according to the Institute of International Education report, which may also be a response to Trump’s research funding cuts.
Sacramento State student Namrata, an international student from India who uses the singular name as her legal name, said her academic experience as a political science major has suffered due to her international student status.
She said faculty and peers have advised her to avoid writing about certain topics in her academic papers. Namrata referenced a recent English paper she wrote on freedom of speech, explaining that her professor cautioned her against making the piece overly political and discouraged her from addressing issues such as genocides or human rights violations. She said she feels restricted within her major and that her “degree doesn't have value.”
“I don’t even have an equal chance to succeed as other students,” she said. “I wish I was them.”
Namrata is thinking about pursuing her master’s degree in another country or her home country.
Roma Singh, a freshman cinematic arts major from South Africa at Cal State Long Beach, said that while the immigration crackdown did “throw a wrench” in her plans, she ultimately decided that coming to California was the best decision for her aspirations. Singh hopes to pursue a career in Hollywood, and that being near Los Angeles will allow her to enter the industry.
Singh said that attaining her F-1 student visa was a difficult process. Embassy appointments were scarce, and she and her family scanned the embassy website for hours, several days in a row, to find an opening.
“I know some students who were hoping to attend Long Beach and they weren't able to because they weren't able to get an appointment,” Singh said.
International students are anxious about their futures
Many international students come to the U.S. with the goal of staying permanently. But with the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants, several told CalMatters the U.S. is becoming a less desirable destination for education and residency.
The path for international students to stay in the U.S. after graduation isn’t easy. Through the temporary work authorization, F-1 visa holders can work in the U.S. for up to 12 months. The institute report shows that 92% of higher education institutions believe that without that work authorization, international students would likely choose other countries for their education.
Students may also pursue a work visa like the H-1B, which permits residency for an initial three-year period.
But a recent additional $100,000 fee for the H-1B visa — a common next step for international students wishing to stay in the U.S. after graduation — adds a roadblock for international students hoping to remain in the U.S.
One major challenge for thousands of students, both current and prospective, has been navigating Trump’s June travel ban to and from 12 countries, mostly in the Middle East and Africa. For seven more countries spread across the globe, he enacted a partial travel ban, including forbidding new student visas.
Students who already had visas were not subject to the ban, but many were advised by their universities to not leave the U.S., as re-entry was not guaranteed due to rapidly changing federal policy.
What international students bring to California
International students are a key source of revenue for tuition-driven universities, as they are not eligible for federal financial aid and often pay full tuition.
With 50% of students at the UC and Cal State paying zero tuition due to financial aid, the higher tuition paid by international and out-of-state students is advantageous, said Valerie Lundy-Wagner, associate director of the Public Policy Institute of California’s higher education center.
For the 2026-27 academic year, full-time nonresident students at the UCs will pay over $36,000 more in tuition than resident students. Assuming a normal credit load, nonresident students at Cal State will pay $14,000 more in tuition.
But while international students provide more tuition revenue than domestic ones, Lundy-Wagner said potential declines in enrollment are not dire, as institutions will have time to assess the intensity of enrollment declines and “what risk to tuition revenue they can expect,” allowing them to redistribute resources accordingly.
“No one expects that next year there are going to be no international students,” she said.
For institutions in California, particularly graduate programs, Lundy-Wagner said the presidential administration’s recent slashing of federal research funding is “more of an immediate issue” than declines in international enrollment.
And if enrollment declines are significant enough, the UC and Cal State systems can always supplement losses in tuition revenue with out-of-state students, as “there are still plenty of other states they could be recruiting from” where students would pay the same nonresident tuition.
But international students bring much more to California than simply additional tuition revenue, Lundy-Wagner said.
“The state has a diverse economy. Diverse economies require people who have diverse perspectives, and some of that will come in through folks who are coming from different countries,” she said. “It benefits California students and faculty to be interacting with folks who are from these different places and spaces.”
Sujatha Moni, a women’s and gender studies professor from India who teaches at Sacramento State, agrees.
She said that international students bring a unique perspective from their cultural backgrounds and interact with class content differently, providing domestic students with new viewpoints that they otherwise wouldn’t have been exposed to.
“International students enhance the value of education on our campus,” she said. “They bring that critical diversity that is much needed, that is so enriching, for any campus.”
Applying to study in California now
Despite the challenges, Dorothy said she has never regretted her decision to come to California for her university education, citing interesting classes, high-caliber professors and a vibrant, international community as draw factors.
She said if international families can afford to send their students to the U.S., and if they “value the experience and the education itself, it’s still worth it” to study here. She is encouraging her brother to also study in the U.S.
At UCLA, Ahmad said he is wary about recommending international students study in the U.S., citing how draining it has been for him to constantly worry about his visa status and potential cuts to research funding on top of being a student. He told his brother to “absolutely not” apply to the U.S. for law school.
“Given the current situation, I would say no,” he said. “But if it was like, a year back, … I would say yes.”
Ahmad looks forward to finally being in Australia, away from “the political drama” in the U.S. and the pressure to constantly advocate for himself and his international peers.
“I can also take a step back and, you know, be a student.”
Aliza Imran and Kahani Malhotra are contributors with the College Journalism Network, a collaboration between CalMatters and student journalists from across California. CalMatters higher education coverage is supported by a grant from the College Futures Foundation.
This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.
