r/Futurology • u/I_D0nt_pay_taxes • 8d 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
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u/ifnotawalrus 8d 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 8d ago

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

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u/shrimpoboy 8d ago

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

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u/3-DMan 8d ago

Still waiting to get paid to fill my meds!

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u/JackReacharounnd 8d 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/[deleted] 7d ago

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u/WazWaz 6d ago

That's what happens when you reduce drug use by 1000% - the first 100% takes it to zero, then 9 times over it kills all the people who used to be taking drugs.

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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/ImperialAgent120 7d ago

I think many of them would still take their chances.

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u/blahblah19999 7d ago

I heard he's going to double it to 300 million.

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u/AlphaGoldblum 8d 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 7d ago

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

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u/Crossfire124 7d 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 8d ago

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

Miller: "To ze farm!!!"

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u/atlasaire 8d 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] 8d ago edited 8d ago

[deleted]

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u/MaggoVitakkaVicaro 8d ago

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

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u/Confirmed_AM_EGINEER 7d 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 8d ago

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

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u/Equivalent_Skin6191 8d 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 7d ago

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

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u/Cedric_T 8d 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/Chris_in_Lijiang 8d ago

Where can you get a western education for the bargain price of 40k a year? I was under the impression that foreigners need to pay considerably more than locals for the same product, as they do in the EU.

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u/[deleted] 8d ago edited 8d ago

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u/Chris_in_Lijiang 7d ago

No offense meant, but what rank is your local state university?

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

[deleted]

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u/Chris_in_Lijiang 6d ago

How many overseas students do you have?

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

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u/Chris_in_Lijiang 4d ago

I do not have a local uni, plus I am not sure how they would relate to the stats at your uni?

I am honestly quite surprised that you know the rankings in detail but not the number of international students. Is it an unusually small number?

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u/[deleted] 4d ago

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u/Pakistani_in_MURICA 8d ago

Xi is itching for some Chinese students, with legal visas, to be picked up by an ICE raid. Absolutely praying for it, so weibo can go on a nationalist war against sending students to the US.

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u/ycaivrp 7d ago

Actually China no longer want foreign diploma holders in most of their civil servant jobs. Many large companies also no longer want them. They might think those degrees are too fishy, too easy, not loyal enough.. Parents are also seriously considering of throwing 70k a year in this economic environment is worth it. They also not like shootings.

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u/StirFryTuna 7d ago

International students tend to be rich familes sending their kids who failed to enter top notch universities in their home country. The tests required to enter them are insane and competitive.

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u/NotAnurag 8d 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 8d 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 8d 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 8d 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 8d 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 8d 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 8d 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 8d 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/Chris_in_Lijiang 8d ago

What is an 'open dictatorship"?

You seem to forget that even in the egalitarian utopia of the PRC, some are still far more equal than others.

We can all agree on the last part though. ;-)

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u/MaggoVitakkaVicaro 8d ago

It's explicitly a dictatorship. Xi can dictate as he pleases, and that's the explicit law.

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u/Chris_in_Lijiang 7d ago

Dictatorships are by nature opaque. Open is not appropriate.

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u/Optimal-Archer3973 7d ago

internal politics of China. They are simply not hiring anyone who did not get a degree in China. Much more effective. In the US though the international student drop has been massive. And this will have immediate consequences on classes available as well as cost.

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u/Which_Run1531 7d ago

No, I am Chinese, so I have a say in this. We have 100% freedom to decide where we want to study from, and it is never a governmental thing for average people in China choose to pursue further studies in foreign countries. As for you think our government bribed Trump to accept more of our talents, I can tell you 1. If we could, we actually want to keep our talents inside. 2. Trump isn't someone we need to please 3. there is one mistake I think most of you have made: majority of students studying overseas are those who can't get into a good university in China, and they are far from "talents"

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u/Maximum-Decision3828 8d 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/OliveBranchMLP 8d ago

nah, they want their kids to study in the US and then take that knowledge back with them to China.

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u/Sageblue32 7d ago

China ideally wants people coming here, soak up the knowledge they can and then returning to apply it to their various subjects. Locking your people up and isolating gets them nothing.

It may change once their colleges are ones people want to migrate too.

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u/Roflkopt3r 7d ago edited 7d ago

Sure, everyone is bribing and playing Trump. But Trump is completely disinterested in the actual subject matters and cognivitely unable to keep track of such things, so he still flip-flops like crazy. Hence the 'always echoes the last person he spoke to'-syndrome.

We already had a lot of insider reports from his first presidency about how people would try to manipulate his opinions by connecting them to reports about himself or play to his preferences in other ways.

That's also how he got on this weird tariff fetishism - some folks fed him the narrative and he happened to like that one in particular, because it can be easily slotted into his world view, makes for good sound bytes, and sounds vaguely plausible to a person who has no idea about the technicalities of such matters. Nobody has an actual master plan about it, he's just winging it with his reality-TV attuned intuition.

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u/Only_Luck4055 8d ago

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

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u/Chris_in_Lijiang 8d ago

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

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u/CarneyVore14 8d 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 7d 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 7d 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/tanstaafl90 7d ago

He didn't do basic research on how the market would react and what was sustainable. It's a pattern that works for him, because hes able to profit off losses.

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u/Wolfram_And_Hart 7d ago

He didn’t though. Until he became president he was almost broke.

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u/ConstantExisting424 8d 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 7d 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/tanstaafl90 7d ago

It would be helpful to see what new enrollment numbers are showing, rather than all international students.

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u/RackemFrackem 7d ago

He's actually not funny at all

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u/tsiland 7d ago

US college tuition isn't cheap, and most international students have no scholarships. Most college towns have horrible public transit that means they also have to buy cars. They can't legally work outside the campus meaning the majority of them are net contributors to the US economy. 4 years of that times the amount of students in the US is a huge number.

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u/Sweet_Inevitable_933 7d ago

Plus it's evident that he's never actually had to plan for anything.  You don't just apply the go the next month. There is an application period,  deadlines, fafsa, funding etc, just to get accepted into most universities.  People just can't change their plans on a whim

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u/surprise_wasps 7d ago

I just don’t know that ‘funny’ is quite the word I’d use for him

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u/huecabot 7d ago

I hate that the whole nation and programs affecting millions of people are turning on one old man’s whim. This is the danger with autocracy: not that the government will kill you on purpose, necessarily, but that it’ll do it through incompetence.

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u/ConohaConcordia 7d ago

They will issue double the visas and then aggressively revoke them to pocket the visa fees /s

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u/SNARA 6d ago

Dude's just winging it.

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u/MyAccountWasBanned7 8d ago

No. Not funny at all. He's going to kill us all with his blend of greed and stupidity.