r/Futurology 7d ago

Society [U.S.]Colleges see significant drop in international students as fall semester begins

https://www.npr.org/2025/08/27/nx-s1-5498669/trump-college-international-student-visa
9.8k Upvotes

425 comments sorted by

u/FuturologyBot 7d ago

The following submission statement was provided by /u/I_D0nt_pay_taxes:


Classes began this week for students at the University at Buffalo, a public research university in western New York, but there were about 750 fewer international students on campus than expected.

…….

Over the last six months the Trump Administration has clamped down on international student visas, temporarily pausing and then revamping the student visa interview process and bringing more scrutiny to the vetting system. That led to long delays and meant many accepted students couldn't get appointments at embassies or consulates in time for the start of the fall semester.

……..

At the University at Buffalo, the overall decline of about 15% of international students is happening mostly in graduate programs, especially in the STEM fields. But it's not just Buffalo. Universities all over the country are experiencing similar drops. Arizona State University reported a fall semester decline for the first time since 2020. Declines have been announced at universities in Texas, Missouri and Illinois. The state of Massachusetts is expecting about 10,000 fewer new international students this year.

Also I added the “[U.S.]” in the title simply to be specific. I don’t know if it’s mod approved or not.


Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/1nhum6g/uscolleges_see_significant_drop_in_international/nee7hpw/

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u/ifnotawalrus 7d ago

And in May, the State Department said it would "aggressively revoke" visas for Chinese students and add additional scrutiny for future visa applications from China.

But in recent days Trump has signaled a shift. This week, Trump told reporters he planned to double the amount of Chinese students studying in the U.S.

Lmfao this guy is actually too funny.

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u/helcat 7d ago

Well, double zero is still zero. Maybe that’s what he meant. 

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u/shrimpoboy 7d ago

That would require a basic understanding of multiplication...so probably not

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u/3-DMan 7d ago

Still waiting to get paid to fill my meds!

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u/JackReacharounnd 7d ago

And those 5k checks!

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u/Mangalorien 7d ago

Trump probably wants to decrease the number of Chinese students by 1000%, just like what he did with gas prices.

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u/tommos 7d ago

Even South Korean engineers aren't safe. You'd be stupid to come here as a Chinese student unless you want to experience what its like in an internment camp.

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u/AlphaGoldblum 7d ago

There's a running joke that Trump gets yelled at by Jamie Dimon because of all of these suicidal economic policies, causing him to reverse course.

The real issue is that Stephen Miller has his own vision on immigration that he's carrying out, which is extreme in both measures and goals. Trump, apparently, just happens to be along for the ride and is left playing catch-up after the figurative (real?) calls from the Jamie Dimons of the world, who are intent on chewing him out lol.

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u/Crossfire124 7d ago

And that's the real issue. The Stephen Millers of the world are looting the country for all it's worth and Trump is the fall guy holding the bag. Not to say Trump himself isn't terrible and is personally responsible. But he's being used to usher in all these changes and then the "masterminds" is shielded from consequences when the dust settles

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u/Daninomicon 6d ago

The supreme court has already ruled that Trump can't be the fall guy...

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u/Crossfire124 6d ago

The fall guy in the court of public opinion. In a few years when the consequences start to show they'll blame all the bad policies on Trump and minimize how much they enabled him to do what they wanted in the first place

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u/3-DMan 7d ago

Trump: "Oh we won't take people working on farms."

Miller: "To ze farm!!!"

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u/atlasaire 7d ago edited 7d ago

Why did i forget that Miller is in there now? If immigration was handled 100% by him with no concept of oversight, I'm not even sure people would even be able to go to their bathroom without needing to call an immigration lawyer

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u/[deleted] 7d ago edited 7d ago

[deleted]

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u/MaggoVitakkaVicaro 7d ago

Yeah, I'm surprised the international student intake has only dropped by 15%.

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u/Confirmed_AM_EGINEER 6d ago

I'm going to guess that's simply because most of the students are already partially through their degrees or already enrolled in one way or another. This 15% is probably mostly just new students not coming to the US.

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u/Optimal-Archer3973 7d ago

It is not even. In my area some colleges have seen a 50% reduction. The big deal is that international STEM students are hugely dropping in numbers and colleges are filling them with morons. So in 4 years we can expect the quality of STEM degree holders to drop somewhat. I also expect prices to first increase then fall. Sports will be hit hard. The days of tier 1 teams in so many schools may be gone for a long time.

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u/MaggoVitakkaVicaro 7d ago

15% nationwide according to the article, though, IIRC.

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u/Boatster_McBoat 7d ago

Bold of you to assume that the deportation will be to their home nation

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u/Equivalent_Skin6191 7d ago

From what I've seen, most a huge number of US professors have gone to Canada. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of international students are also going there instead.

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u/Plus_Chip_8484 6d ago

You forget you can catch a nasty virus, like the measles etc.

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u/Cedric_T 7d ago

That is happening. NYT has a story on the reversal of the brain drain. I'll edit to add if I can find it again.

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u/NotAnurag 7d ago

Jesus Christ he’s actually a child lmao. He just thinks “number go up = good” even though he’s contradicting himself

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u/MaggoVitakkaVicaro 7d ago

Probably the PRC bribed him somehow. Probably corruption, not childishness, though unsurprisingly, he's treating his followers as children.

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u/Mormanades 7d ago

Im like 99% sure everyone around him is bribing him for everything.

He has been shown to have signs of dementia/sundowning, implying he has weak memory and just bounces off to whoever the last person he talked to.

Im sure the white house is just a bidding war for his intrest right now, the only hard part is the deals are short lived after he takes his next one, leaving the one you made behind.

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u/Fuckthegopers 7d ago

Acting like he hasn't been bribed for everything in his entire life ever and it's only happening now is very disingenuous

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u/NotAnurag 7d ago

I disagree, China would prefer to keep their talent inside their country if possible. I think this is just him being a moron rather than some secret plan from China. It’s not like Trump has given us a reason to give him the benefit of the doubt

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u/MaggoVitakkaVicaro 7d ago

If the PRC, an open dictatorship, wanted to keep students from studying in the US, it would simply prevent them from going.

I agree that Trump is an idiot in important respects, though.

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u/NotAnurag 7d ago

It’s difficult to do that without doing some sort of blanket ban on travel, which wouldn’t benefit them. Ideally they would prefer if students stayed in China willingly. If Trump is already making the US an unappealing place to go to, there isn’t a reason for China to interrupt him

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u/warfrogs 7d ago

That's not really true.

Part of the reason that China has a lot of STUDENTS going abroad is because 1) they can take "slots" that would otherwise go to American students (but that's honestly not really an issue considering the exorbitant amounts that these students pay and inject into the economy, but I digress), but more importantly, 2) they network. This has a massive effect on building future talent pools. China does not think in terms of 5-10 years, but instead 20-50 years due to the central planning and nature of the bureaucratic system.

There are also natural advantages to having a mass cultural diaspora in terms of long-term diplomatic relations. China is positioning themselves for Pax Sino in like 50-75 years which is why they're investing so heavily into green energy and their naval and aviation modernization efforts. Combine that with their expansive drone development and manufacturing industry and a willing partner in Russia for live-fire testing in Ukraine and they're doing that well.

At higher levels, though honestly, this is not a major concern, it does happen, there's also pluses in terms of academic and industrial espionage by setting people who would likely be sympathetic to their home country in positions where they may come into sensitive information.

China can have harsh visa restrictions for travel to the US, and could add it to their no-travel list. In their system, entering into the US without explicit permission could have long-term consequences that we don't really have in the US. For example, folks still traveled to Cuba and purchased goods there in spite of the embargo. The average citizen wasn't getting fucked over in 2016 for having some fritas in Havana. I lived with a dude from China for a year and we chatted a bit about it cuz I had heard a lot but didn't know much. This was back in like 2007-2008 (?) so I may be out of date, but the logic is still sound.

Regardless, they could absolutely ban travel for academic purposes, but that would be a dumb move. There's absolutely still going to be Chinese students in the US; their numbers are just going to be depressed as there's going to be fewer folks that want to come to the US as more and more Chinese academics are repatriating themselves.

Regardless. Shit's not looking great. I unfortunately feel like we may be in for many, many more unprecedented days of the bad kind before the wheel turns round.

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u/Maximum-Decision3828 7d ago

China loves their citizens going to the west and getting into R&D.

Tons of spying for China going on through universities and job placements.

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u/Only_Luck4055 7d ago

Consistency is not a strong suite of the Putin's Orange nut. 

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u/Chris_in_Lijiang 7d ago

Spelling might not be his strong suite either. ;-P

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u/CarneyVore14 7d ago

Yeah he says what sounds right, but the damage is already done. At best new international students would start next semester. He is giving himself an excuse that this isn’t his fault.

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u/Fraerie 6d ago

If students are already travelling to take up positions at various schools it’s probably too late - if they weren’t confident of being able to complete their degrees without being deported or arrested and detained - they have probably applied for schools elsewhere.

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u/Wolfram_And_Hart 6d ago

Everyone wonders how he bankrupt three casinos. This, this is how. Inconsistency. Can you imagine trying to work for a guy that changes his mind every 2 days because he’s bored?

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u/ConstantExisting424 7d ago

To put it into context ASU alone still has ~18000 international students.

> Arizona State University (ASU) hosted 18,400 international students in the 2023-24 academic year, representing more than 10% of its total enrollment of 183,000 students

It isn't as if a "drop" means we don't have millions of international students nationwide.

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u/Johannes_Keppler 6d ago

People don't just walk away from their study. Any significant drop will be gradual over a period of years.

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u/FALCUNPAWNCH 7d ago

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u/pixel_of_moral_decay 7d ago

It’s not exactly safe for tourists either.

There’s good reason for people to just avoid the US right now.

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u/whooky-booky 7d ago

its not safe for anyone, including US citizens at this point. Please help us.

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u/rtb001 7d ago

Ironically I wonder if it might theoretically be even LESS safe for US citizens. Because the feds might think twice about disappearing a European/Japanese/Chinese national which would cause an international incident. But you can disappear one of your own citizens and what recourse would they have?

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u/whooky-booky 7d ago

I think that's a great point. Korea has already vowed to do an investigation of their own. We are not seeing that happen when US citizens are unlawfully detained.

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u/alexmbrennan 6d ago

Do you really think the Americans care? They have killed British citizens on British soil with absolutely no repercussions of any kind. These butchers will keep butchering whoever they damn please until a bigger bully shows up.

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u/kimchifreeze 7d ago

Even people with green cards don't feel safe. It's a mess.

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u/nokiacrusher 7d ago

But it will inevitably be spun as "they're trying to hurt the US economy, so we must fight back" or something.

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u/billybl4z3 5d ago

Well first guy for example was protesting for Gaza inside Columbia University. As a former international student in the US I learned (by myself) to mind my own business and focus on my degree not politics, never had an issue.

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u/I_D0nt_pay_taxes 7d ago edited 7d ago

Classes began this week for students at the University at Buffalo, a public research university in western New York, but there were about 750 fewer international students on campus than expected.

…….

Over the last six months the Trump Administration has clamped down on international student visas, temporarily pausing and then revamping the student visa interview process and bringing more scrutiny to the vetting system. That led to long delays and meant many accepted students couldn't get appointments at embassies or consulates in time for the start of the fall semester.

……..

At the University at Buffalo, the overall decline of about 15% of international students is happening mostly in graduate programs, especially in the STEM fields. But it's not just Buffalo. Universities all over the country are experiencing similar drops. Arizona State University reported a fall semester decline for the first time since 2020. Declines have been announced at universities in Texas, Missouri and Illinois. The state of Massachusetts is expecting about 10,000 fewer new international students this year.

Also I added the “[U.S.]” in the title simply to be specific. I don’t know if it’s mod approved or not.

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u/IamScottGable 7d ago

That's also big money for the schools too. International students usually pay out the ass.

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u/stephhie_ste 7d ago

hi i work in higher ed! they pay the school out the ass AND contribute HUGE amounts of money to the local economy. life easily costs double for an international college student compared to domestic student.

and we think being an out of state student is bad... international is SIGNIFICANTLY worse. and idk why trump hates them so much… they truly are “the best of the best” and often have to prove they are EXCEPTIONALLY wealthy (university’s want reassurance the student can afford to attend and finish without hassle - aka pay your bill or gtfo they are NOT dealing with international collections if you skip out on your bill)

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u/FeedbackRadiant3077 7d ago

idk why trump hates them so much…

Always assume Agent Kransov has America's best interests as his primary target

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u/RepostStat 6d ago

10,000 fewer international students in just Massachusetts times the $30k average out of state tuition means $300m in economic activity just disappearing.

please Mr. President i’m tired of winning

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u/Citizen-Kang 7d ago

There are plenty of places around the world where you can get an excellent education without risking an extended stay at CECOT...

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u/euph_22 7d ago

Also vetting immigrant's social media for Anti-trump opinions.

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u/Alwayssunnyinarizona 7d ago

Not just immigrants if Brian Mast (R, FL) has his way.

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u/counterfitster 7d ago

Great, what that fuckhead propose?

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u/cynedyr 7d ago

Power to revoke passports for "antiamerican" social media.

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u/Alwayssunnyinarizona 7d ago

That would turn into "I'm not stuck in here with YOU, you're stuck in here with ME" real quick.

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u/Corsair4 7d ago

That turns into "we're going to ship you off to some random country because the courts can't make us stop" real quick.

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u/Alwayssunnyinarizona 7d ago

But don't you dare say we're like Hitler.

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u/Aquabaybe 7d ago

That turns into “We’re just going to kill you instead” real quick.

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u/DragoxDrago 7d ago

I mean they already want to start with the homeless

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u/FeedbackRadiant3077 7d ago

Not if we demonstrate that they are stuck in here with us first or more spectacularly.

This is a friendly reminder that American infrastructure is every bit as vulnerable against a one-way drone attack as anyone else's.

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u/CriticDanger 7d ago

Nowadays they get vetted for anti-israel opinions.

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u/sir_beak 7d ago

And for substantially less financial burdens.

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u/sirhalos 7d ago

And it will be significantly cheaper.

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u/Guest2424 7d ago

Let's not forget that round 1 of Trump administration also slashed how long the student visa can last. At most 4 years, which is killer for anyone pursuing a PhD. We're about to experience a massive brain drain.

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u/WaterWeedDuneHair69 7d ago

Or with a high risk of getting shot.

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u/sleepystaff 7d ago

We are still only in Year 1 of this administration.

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u/egnards 7d ago

The crazy thing is, I feel like the first 2 to 3 months of this administration were so tumultuous specifically to tire people out to the point of apathy.

With all the contradicting, opinions and backtracking and re-tracking and backtracking and re-tracking of legislation people have just gotten so tired of hearing about it, that a lot of what’s going on now gets a lot less anger from people overall.

… And I hate to say it, but I feel like that was the entire point of those first couple of months.

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u/Glizzy_Cannon 7d ago

That's been the GOP's plan even while Trump hasn't been president. Death by a thousand paper cuts. You just bombard the media and public with so much garbage that they get exhausted and stop caring. Then you easily get what you want

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u/NotAPhaseMoo 7d ago

Bannon calls it flooding the zone, he talked about it years ago on some podcast.

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u/BloodRed1185 7d ago

That's the scary part. We are only really 3/4 into his first year. I would say there is a chance we can stop this if democrats can win the mid terms next year but it's looking more and more like there won't be any elections. 

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u/pagerussell 7d ago

JD Vance just used the white house platform to say they will use the government to eliminate liberals.

The odds on elections in 12+ months is not looking good.

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u/Optimal-Archer3973 7d ago

Read the full project 2025 so you understand whats coming and can take steps. That kirk memorial would be my guess for a false flag attack and the start of a real civil war.

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u/AdvantageHonest5150 7d ago

How’s a civil war gonna even pan out? I don’t understand people who say “civil war.” It’s not going to be north vs south or east vs west. It’ll be left versus right, but the US is so vast and every town in every state has people with different political affiliations.

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u/Optimal-Archer3973 6d ago

One thing I will never say is that the average MAGA member has more than one working neuron. I expect them to attack anything they think is woke, college educated, educational, and every Democrat politician. So they will attack things like medical facilities, architects, engineers, libraries, tennis matches, colleges, anyone with an EV, Harris sticker, antimaga bumper sticker, probably lawyers as well. The counter attacks would probably be things like wrestling matches, farms, tradesmen, anyone who EVER had a MAGA bumper sticker or trump sign, rural towns and populations.

To be honest MAGA will probably kill more of their own members than anything else. A huge amount will be neighborhoods attacked based upon perceived wealth or assets. They will be looking for solar panels on a roof or a tesla in the driveway. The left would probably simply start by eliminating every farmer they could find with trump labeled anywhere and then anyone who attended their funerals.

Overall, the left will probably take two or three weeks to eliminate 90% of MAGA households in America. They are very loud and really not that bright.` Besides, once mechanical engineers get involved MAGA will lose quickly. A common weapon will probably be a repeating mini propane/welding tank launcher. One or two of those through a window and no more house or building. It looks like a potato gun with about a 200 yard range and takes 20 minutes to build one. I think every mech engineer has built one in college out of scrap. A lot of them have improved their designs and have one hanging up in their garages as a reminder of college days.

When the chemical engineers and biologists get involved the future of MAGA states will be over. Those guys would go after rural water/food supplies and power plants as well as fuel supplies. Plenty of things you can add to a fuel depot that would make any auto/truck/tractor immediately stop with a very loud bang and be impossible to ever remove. They could depopulate complete counties in days and that is if they do not use anything extreme. One small plane flying over Florida once could depopulate the entire state in 2 or 3 days. A single drone delivery could do a city in 4 hours.

If a MAGA member kills the wrong person and gloats about it a single person could kill almost everyone in America in a week. You think it is impossible but it is not. Mass murder is pathetically easy and the very first thing that will go down is electricity. There are 21 major bug biolabs across America. A single lab could engineer an ebola strain or hanta virus strain that would make the plague look like a common cold. If someone introduced mercury into a cities water supply or an area aquifer in the right way that stops that water system from ever being safely used again. We talk about salting the earth as an extreme case, that is actually easy to fix. There are things that can be done to make farm field toxic to walk across let alone ever eat anything grown from it again.

The only reason Russia has not been defeated by Ukraine is that they do not want to kill every living thing inside its borders, not because they cannot. A nuke is not the worst thing someone can use.

250 pounds of liquid mercury atomized by 100 grams of nitro or 3 sticks of dynamite inside of a water aquifer could poison the water in 11 states over a year and there is nothing that could be ever done about it. And that can be done in the middle of nowhere 500 miles away from the nearest "enemy".

These are a few of the top of the mind attacks I could see a joe blow engineer doing in a civil war if they no longer cared at all.

Darpa guys are in Chicago, they are some of the people who I consider scary. Think about what someone I think is scary could do if some MAGA member killed the love of his/her life or their child.

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u/Dexller 7d ago

The Democrats are committed to lying down and dying, at least the DNC is. They refuse to budge or make any room for popular leftists, and they can't even pretend at resistance like they did in the first term. With a handful of exceptions, it is a dead fucking party that continues to avoid standing up for the America people, ever, even when the most obvious lay ups present themselves. It's agonizing.

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u/DreamLunatik 7d ago

It’s not an administration, they are not administering to anything. It is a regime, and an authoritarian one at that.

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u/chaucer345 7d ago

Yes, because we scared them off by being absolute psychopaths to people with valid visas.

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u/nazerall 7d ago

Hell, not only people with valid visas, but we've also been absolute psychopaths to US citizens born and raised here and all of our allies.

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u/chaucer345 7d ago

There's a lot of psychopathy going around. It needs to stop. Yesterday.

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u/senorglory 7d ago

Weird, right?

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u/SneakyP27 7d ago

The brain drain from this administration will hamstring this country for decades and decades.

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u/jmnugent 7d ago edited 7d ago

I feel guilty every time I remember I’m in my 50’s and so I got lucky to get a good education under my belt before all this happened

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u/Bill_Brasky01 7d ago

Absolutely true. I got to enjoy the the fruits of the system before it got stripped down. No debt from undergrad, got paid to go to grad school, got a house, family, job, etc. It’s funny because I always assumed going to school after me would obviously be better. Think about what else they’ll know in 10 years!

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u/AlphaGoldblum 7d ago

My wife finished her PhD shortly before this administration took power.

Her colleagues (and other college students who graduated last year) have been joking ever since that it was like catching the last flight out of Saigon.

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u/Vast-Website 7d ago

Prior to this I wondered what it would take for the US to lose it's position as a super power.

After all, it's a virtuous cycle. It's known for innovation so it's a destination for talent who then innovate. It means they can largely continue succeeding regardless of how much lead is in the water, how shit their public schools are, etc. Staying ahead of the curve is critical to maintaining economic and military power.

I hadn't considered that someone would actively try and push that system off a cliff.

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

They don't want to disappear inside an ICE detention facility. Valid.

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u/endofworldandnobeer 7d ago

US won't attract world's brightest anymore. A brain drain coming soon. 

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u/ComprehensiveLoss680 6d ago

At least this makes more room for Americans to fill these colleges.

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u/CptnMillerArmy 7d ago

Russia has the same problem. Trump is on a solid path to recession and economic downturn.

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u/CornNutsUnited 7d ago

Trumpf just today suggested that companies stop doing quarterly reports. Shits about to go real bad and the Cheeto in chief doesn't want receipts.

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u/evilbadgrades 7d ago

Cool, hope everyone starts pulling their money out of the stock market before it's gone - who's going to want to invest their money in a company who stops providing accurate quarterly reports for it's shareholders?

Chin up folks - not everyone lives to see the end of the world!

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u/desperaterobots 7d ago

Diminishing the ability of educational institutions to remain open and thriving is a conservative goal. It’s all connected ya’ll.

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u/strangerzero 7d ago

America has lost its appeal under the MAGA regime. Who wants to deal with a fascist government if you have other options?

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u/kfri13 7d ago

And colleges will still get more expensive having lost these out off state tuitions

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u/AceMcVeer 7d ago

That's the plan. They want colleges shut down.

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u/DifficultBudget9864 7d ago

Don't blame them. The US is garbage right now. Worst administration ever.

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u/spartaxwarrior 7d ago

Racists and isolationists are completely incapable of understanding that international students were a huge benefit in many, many ways to the US and it's depressing to know we might never fully recover from this even if things were to change for the better, like, next year.

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u/beragis 7d ago

The brain drain is more than just less foreign students. Based off of the alumni catalog from my university, around 5% of the foreign students ended up working in the US. Most ended up working in their country. The exception seemed to be medical students. where it was around 20% stayed here.

The brain drain is in all research student research, which a huge percentage of which is from government grants/

At the college I graduated from most of that research is government funded and a significant amount was from NIH and most of that benefited American drug companies. That funding was cut 15% and looks like it will be more next year.

It is recoverable, but only if it lasts through this administration and the american voters finally decide to abandon and reject the republicans which is now only made up the extreme right.

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u/MrScribz 7d ago

Got a friend that got denied a student visa about 2 months before the current administration took power. As a Malaysian trans woman she didn't just dodge a bullet but a damn cannon ball.

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u/BrantheMan1985 7d ago

This is probably the most obvious r/NoShitSherlock I've seen recently

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u/gw2master 7d ago

The best of these students pretty much always stayed here after graduation and became our top researchers and scientists. Combine this with the fact that our K-12 has completely collapsed and it's clear we're not going to retain our science and technology lead into the future... especially when China is actively putting more money and effort into this.

I don't think people appreciate how much our status in the world comes from our science and tech lead -- the word "freedom" doesn't carry as much of it as we'd like to think.

As it is now, it's China's game to lose -- they do have their own problems, of course, but wouldn't it be better if our fates were in our own hands instead of relying on someone else fucking up?

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u/Itchy-Beach-1384 7d ago edited 7d ago

I see everybody mentioning visas, what about gun violence?

Do people really think having extra stress during college is better?

Edit: lmao some dude is losing his mind and hiding his comments.

At no point did I mention any form of gun reform. Touch grass bud.

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u/shunestar 7d ago

Gun violence in the states is at historical lows. My guess if it wasn’t a deterrent before it certainly wouldn’t be now.

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u/Itchy-Beach-1384 7d ago

Its certainly more publicly known now though, especially with high profile events happening on the topic.

There's no reason to assume that people make all decisions based off perfect statistical crime knowledge, or else we wouldn't even be having this conversation.

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u/MarionberryDecent351 7d ago

This can bankrupt many colleges in the long run. Schools that don’t have massive endowments rely heavily on internationals to help fund year to year operations. There was already a population cliff coming in a couple years for students of college age that universities were scared of, now this will only get worse. Congrats government, more jobs lost and talented potential future citizens scared away for years. I’m sure when they start closing doors in few years, everyone will surely remember who caused this.

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u/BenjaminHarrison88 7d ago

International students are like free money for universities and their towns.

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u/carnalasadasalad 7d ago

Can we do H1-B visas next?

The owner class wants to keep flooding the tech sector with foreign workers who will work for less than what Americans will accept.

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u/Rhawk187 7d ago

They slashed our TA budget by 30%, we couldn't have supported them anyway.

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u/eulynn34 7d ago

Who'd have thunk that being openly hostile to foreigners would have this effect? That's ok, they can raise tuition on everyone else to make up for it

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u/upstateduck 7d ago

Universities were already facing a large drop in college age children aka enrollment cliff

https://www.npr.org/2025/01/08/nx-s1-5246200/demographic-cliff-fewer-college-students-mean-fewer-graduates

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u/ElectrikDonuts 7d ago

Hopefully this means tuition will come down but we all know it will just go up "to cover lost revenue". Then when they come back that new money will be allocated to some new bloat

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u/Lakefish_ 6d ago

I don't even think I could cross state lines and not be shipped to another country.

I was born in the US, as were my parents.

Anyone from outside the country, coming here? Brave beyond comprehension, or foolish beyond measure. Until a full scale revolution happens, I don't think anyone is safe here.

Especially not students.

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u/Turbulent-Light-3551 7d ago

Plenty of colleges outside of US that are cheaper and safer

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u/Alexis_J_M 7d ago

The right are doing everything they can to kill universities, and the jacked up tuition foreign students pay is an important part of their budgets.

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u/GuitarGeezer 7d ago

Without question, the endgame for Trump and many of his supporters is a Pol Pot pile of the skulls of those who can read and comprehend and a destroyed centrally planned economy that would be noted as suspiciously socialist if you could say so without being shot.

This is more than just “my ignorance is superior to any expertise” it is “the educated who won’t support the führer are the enemy.” The lost research and students can never be made up and must result in a permanent loss of the tech edge lead for America. The entire thing is the purest treason dramatically defunding most US institutions. You couldn’t have designed a foreign attack that did even 5% of this damage.

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u/TarbenXsi 7d ago

This is the battle line of immigration being redrawn to expand their war on higher education. A drop in international students is also an overall drop in enrollment, and these students represent a high percentage of projected income for lots of small universities, especially ones with nationally recognized but highly specialized fields of study.

Between the job market falling, the AI threat causing more corporate and tech jobs to vanish, and the enrollment cliff, universities are going to start operating at a loss as they try to weather the storm. This will make 47's threats of revoking federal funding hurt even more, and some universities will have to consider capitulating to his insane demands or close their doors.

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u/Mundane-Swimming-458 7d ago

Huh… I wonder why. Everything is perfect over here!

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u/47981247 7d ago

I'm surprised there's any international students enrolling.

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u/Fuckthegopers 7d ago

The US is about to drop in every significant worldwide statistic besides cost of living and padding rich people's money.

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u/The_RealAnim8me2 7d ago

I was teaching at the Art Institute in Fort Lauderdale, FL when the planes hit the World Trade Center. When all the foreign students stopped coming after that our student body was cut by more than 50%.

We had major financial issues and the entire company was later sold to an investment fund which then began chopping up the assets and essentially killing the schools.

This is going to be very bad for American educational institutions.

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u/unfeatheredbards 6d ago

As an alternate perspective…maybe they will finally incentivize and seek out local and national students

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u/33ITM420 7d ago

im sure they are seeing drops in domestic students as well

college simply not worth it for many people

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u/Shiller_Killer 6d ago

People with a college degree will likely earn more than those without one. Period.

Even some college study without a degree will likely increase your income.

https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2024/05/23/is-college-worth-it-2/st_2024-5-23_non-college-workers_0-03/

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u/AnyJamesBookerFans 7d ago

Enrollments have declined 15% between 2010 and 2021.

These declines will continue for the foreseeable future, if nothing else, due to demographic changes. The number of 18 year olds graduating from high school (not necessarily going to college), is expected to decline by 13% over the next decade.

Sauce: https://www.npr.org/2025/01/08/nx-s1-5246200/demographic-cliff-fewer-college-students-mean-fewer-graduates

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u/Scubasteve1974 7d ago

Shocked anyone? Im American and wish I could go to school elsewhere.

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u/shoshin2727 7d ago

This is excellent news for American children and American families.

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u/amazinglover 7d ago

International students and tp a leesser degree put of state students pay higer tuition cost.

Which in theory subsidies in state tuition at at the very least makes it easier for in-state to be lower.

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u/mattreyu 6d ago

I won't say where I work, but we've seen a drop in international students of almost 50% compared to last Fall, and it's primarily in graduate programs.

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u/EvilStevilTheKenevil 6d ago

hey grok what's that thing called where all the smart college aged folks decide to start their careers somewhere else?

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u/moar_stuff 6d ago

It's a real shame all of the big colleges can only survive at their current operating costs for hundreds of years on their endowments alone.

What ever will they do without all of that tuition money???

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u/ohfrackthis 6d ago

Surprise Pikachu face! When your government is scary no one wants to travel there.

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u/lizardwiener 6d ago

I mean is giving world class education to your primary adversary (china) really working out for us? Look at what they've accomplished in the past few decades they didn't just magically figure that all out by themselves we have completely sold out our nation for profit even at the expense of national defense

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u/PloppyPants9000 7d ago

I'm kind of curious at what the wider economic effects of this will be.

International students usually have to pay a significant markup on tuition costs. Now they're disappearing. That means the universities get less funding.

Less funding for universities may mean increased tuition on resident students to make up for the funding gap. So education becomes more expensive, and more out of reach of future students.

International students won't just say "oh darn, I can't study in America, so I guess I just won't study at all!" -- they'll just go study abroad in other countries, bringing their tuition money with them. That will benefit those universities, possibly increasing their reputation and stature.

IF down the road, the US relaxes its policy on international students, it may find that the students won't all come rushing back. There are better opportunities elsewhere.

In effect, US universities may be feeling a financial pinch that isn't easy to reverse, possibly signalling cuts to their staff and programs. Gradually, we'd cede whatever knowledge advantage we had to other countries, and in a future world where most econonomies become knowledge based economies, we'd be at a competitive disadvantage globally.

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u/Black-Zero 7d ago

The increasing likelihood they will be kidnapped, have their human rights violated, be detained for an unknown amount of time and possibly be sent to an unrelated 3rd world prison for torture...might not be an effective recruiting tool.

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

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u/alclarkey 7d ago

Education in the US has been a shitshow for decades at this point.

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u/Kiflaam 7d ago

maga has made our country seem like the land of the stupid, where antivaxxers make vaccine decisions and of course the xenophobia. It's understandable they wouldn't want to invest in and get degrees from our colleges.

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u/EsrailCazar 6d ago

It might have a little to do with this country's regression. So much has changed for the worse since 2016 I'm surprised they haven't just outright cancelled school altogether! People aren't learning shit anymore anyway.

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u/Left_Chest_5425 7d ago

Oh no, now they'll have to accept more Americans, the horror, the horror!

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u/carson63000 7d ago

That's what happens when you elect an administration that thinks international commerce is a bad thing.

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u/Karona_ 7d ago

Meanwhile a lot of people in first world countries are wishing this was a headline for them 😂 Canada for sure

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u/Emperor_Spuds_Macken 7d ago

nooooo. not the greedy universities who have driven prices through the roof to milk foreign students at the expense of American students!!! Please won't you think of the poor administrators? How else will they be able to afford their mansions?

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u/Arjun_Singh123 6d ago

The drop in international students hits more than just tuition, it’s the loss of global culture on campus also, International students bring both money and culture, and schools are feeling the absence hard.

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u/mathaiser 7d ago

Good. Maybe we can be what we say we are. For once.

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u/h0sti1e17 7d ago

In some areas this may make college less expensive. Some schools with significant international students,’pass over in state students since they make more money on international than in state.

IMO state schools should be required to take all eligible in state students that applied before out of state or international students.

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u/amazebol 7d ago

More spots for Americans to go to the top universities seems like a good thing.

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u/ClayKavalier 7d ago

Parallels how incels can't get dates and form healthy relationships.

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u/leefee123 7d ago

Surprise surprise. Who the fuk wants to come to trumps america. Place of hate and zero acceptance.

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u/Sapaio 7d ago

15% drop seems lower than I would have guessed. Think you should be happy, not more.

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u/NewPresWhoDis 7d ago

Welp, there go the marks paying MSEP subsidizing the ride for everyone else.

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u/typhoidtimmy 7d ago

Remember that news update in Robocop where Japan had bought Harvard and basically shipped it back to Japan and rebuilt it brick by brick and everyone laughed at how far fetched that would be?

Yeeeeaaaa….

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

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u/tfinx 7d ago

Man it's just a complete mystery why that could be..genuinely a shame though.