As SU enrollment drops, international students say U.S. politics spark concern
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The opportunities at Syracuse University convinced now-sophomore Aarini Godha to move across the globe from her hometown of Mumbai, India. Now, she’s unsure about her future in the United States following nationwide policy shifts for international students.
Godha said when she first applied to college, the visa process was simple. She recalled many of her high school friends also wanting to study outside of India, with many hoping to study in the U.S.
Now, however, she said political uncertainty has made studying in the U.S. a less attractive option.
“They’re going to (the) U.K. or Europe or honestly anywhere but the States,” Godha said.
As SU was met with decreased student enrollment for the 2026-27 academic year, Chancellor Mike Haynie said the university struggled to attract international students. In “recent years,” the university’s international enrollment has decreased by about 50%, a university spokesperson wrote in a statement to The Daily Orange.
“We have seen shifts in international student patterns tied to a range of global and domestic factors outside of our control, including visa interview suspensions and heightened screening,” the spokesperson wrote. “As a result, our international enrollment has declined significantly.”
In a September 2025 University Senate meeting, former Chancellor Kent Syverud said the percentage of international enrollment in the “undergraduate entering class” decreased to 5%, 7% lower than in 2023.
During the meeting, Syverud said SU was 41 students below its master’s students goal and attributed the problem to international students having difficulties obtaining student visas.
SU isn’t alone in this reality.
Anna O. Law, a professor of political science and Herbert Kurz Chair in Constitutional Rights at CUNY Brooklyn College, said there is “no doubt” the primary reason for a decline in international students is federal enforcement on legal immigration.
On the first day of President Donald Trump’s second term in office, he signed Executive Order 14161, which increased strict vetting and screening for foreign visitors and immigrants entering the U.S.
Now, almost two years later, recent orders restricting international student visas are still “rooted” in the January 2025 bill, according to NAFSA: Association of International Educators.
In 2025, Trump made efforts to prevent Harvard University from enrolling international students, revoked international student visas and terminated their records, halted scheduling new visa appointments and included additional fees for international students under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
In April 2025, Trump’s administration revoked the visas of three SU students, without providing the university an explanation.
These efforts have continued into his second year back in office.
In January 2026, Trump expanded a previous executive order, restricting entry for citizens of 19 countries and suspending entry and visa issuance to 39 countries.
In August 2026, Trump’s administration paused all immigrant visa applications while implementing a new screening policy, NBC News reported. The pause is expected to end in early to mid-September, following several policies to restrict immigration and student visas for international students.
The number of international student applications in the U.S. fell by 10% for the 2026-27 academic year, the steepest drop since the Common App began tracking international applications, CNBC reported.
Law explained it’s already difficult enough to secure admission to an American university, but now students have to also worry about visas, whether they’ll be readmitted if they leave and return to the country and if they’ll be detained and deported by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“Trump’s overt hostility to non-white immigration creates uncertain visa interview and issuance processes,” Law said in a statement to The D.O. “Historically, non-citizens do not have the same free speech rights as U.S. citizens today, and now, even U.S. citizens’ speech rights are under threat.”
Noah Graff, an SU junior from Windsor, United Kingdom, said one of his friends from Switzerland had trouble going through U.S. customs following a misdemeanor, which has made him extra cautious about jeopardizing his visa status.
“It’s not a big thing, but I’ve got to be extra careful because one thing goes wrong and I’m out,” Graff said.
In July, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security capped international students’ stay in the U.S. to four years unless the federal government approves an extension. DHS also placed restrictions on when and how international students can change their major program ahead of the 2026-27 academic year, while also halving the time international students have to find a job after graduation from 60 to 30 days.
“In addition to creating risks to national security, some F-1 students pose risks to public safety and have been charged with criminal acts,” the final rule states.
The act will take effect on Sept. 15.
As the new rules restrict the amount of time international students are permitted to stay in the U.S., job security has become a major concern.
Graff said the need to quickly find a job and the complexity of obtaining one just to stay in the U.S. is a reason he’ll likely move back to the U.K. after college.
“I don’t want to rush to get a random job,” Graff said. “For an international student, you have a better chance of being an entrepreneur than getting a job because American companies don’t want to do the extra work of sponsoring a visa.”
Godha agreed with Graff, saying the DHS restriction on international students’ time to secure a job after graduation could push her to not pursue a career in the U.S.
“I think I’m gonna have more pressure towards junior year to find a good job,” Godha said. “(The pressure) definitely would eventually make me not want to stay in the states anymore.”
SU, like other American universities, faces the challenge of attracting international students during a time of shrinking application pools.
Yunnai Modi, an SU junior from Mumbai, India, said he thinks SU isn’t doing enough to stand out to international applicants, pointing out perks of attending other American universities.
“It only makes sense to go through the visa process if you get in the top 1% (of schools),” Modi said. “If you look at Northeastern right now, they have one of the best career centers for internships in the world. There’s no professional advantage of going (to Syracuse).”
SU isn’t just facing competition from other American universities, but also international universities as well, Deputy Executive Director, Public Policy at NAFSA and SU alumna Jill Allen Murray said.
As U.S. policy reduces the number of international applicants its colleges receive each year, Allen Murray said other countries are implementing policies to attract talented international students.
“There is competition from other countries. Germany is enrolling more foreign (students) than it ever has before… and they have several policies that help to retain them,” Allen Murray said. “South Korea also hit its target of 300,000 international students two years earlier than they had planned.”
NAFSA research found that the U.S. economy could lose $3.4 billion and nearly 40,000 jobs after the loss of around 111,000 international students in 2026. International student enrollment at SU contributed the sixth most to New York state’s economic gains from international students in 2024.
Allen Murray said the added difficulty and uncertainty of studying in the U.S. creates a stressful experience. She said the unpredictability of a student enrolling at an American university, not knowing if their extension will be granted, adds significant anxiety to their personal experience.
SU remains “focused on supporting current and prospective international students through every stage of their admission and enrollment process, and through their time while at Syracuse University,” the university spokesperson wrote.
Godha, however, feels SU isn’t doing enough.
She wishes SU had more established initiatives that help international students career-wise, to show it has “the best interest of their students” in mind. Godha said SU needs to have more one-on-one conversations with students instead of the seminar-style speaker events it hosts.
While Graff said he feels SU has provided him with fun experiences, he also wishes the university did more to help international students develop their careers.
“In terms of job-finding and internships, if you want to stay in this country, that’s one thing they don’t really help with well,” Graff said.
SU’s Center for International Services supports international students through its resources surrounding immigration status and regulations, passports, visas, travel, insurance, employment and cultural, social and academic experiences, according to its website.
In 2025, just over a third of its staff did not return for the fall semester.
Looking ahead, Law said the efforts to limit international students are “probably temporary,” but the long-term damage is “profound.” She said the Trump administration’s ongoing attacks on higher education, including cutting federal research funding, has set back a generation, if not more.
“U.S. academic institutions were once the envy of the world, I don’t know that they will recover that status in my lifetime,” Law wrote. “Foreign students will differently assess the U.S. as a destination for their training.”
Allen Murray emphasized the value of international students’ perspectives.
As a graduate student at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, she recalled being surrounded by international students, exposing her to different cultures and backgrounds from across the world, an experience she deemed invaluable.
“The attack on foreign students and higher education is an abdication of U.S. soft power,” Law wrote. “When foreign students study in the U.S., they gain insight, understanding, and build relationships which leave a positive view of all things American when they return to their home countries.”
“The same students that have studied at U.S. universities may go home to be leaders in business, government, industry, or the arts,” she added. “That influence is now destroyed.”
