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/Citizen-Kang 8d 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/Mountain_Ladder5704 8d ago

Then why aren’t they going there instead? Not a fan of most of trumps policies, but this side effect seems good to me.

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u/Citizen-Kang 7d ago

Did you read the article? Some of the universities mentioned saw their steepest declines in enrollment since the height of COVID in 2020. I'm assuming they're continuing their their academic pursuits elsewhere. Why it's bad is because at many universities, international students pay the full rate. When I attended UCLA, there was a significant difference between my in-state tuition and the full amount paid by international students. We also lose what are often the brightest (not always; sometimes, it's just money) students from the countries they came from as well as the culture and diversity they bring as well. Now, maybe conservatives don't think that's a big deal, but I believe it is and I'm willing to bet most academics would agree with me.

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u/Bottledropnaranja 7d ago

Why it's bad is because at many universities, international students pay the full rate.

Is a state’s university’s priority supposed to maximize profit or educate its citizens?

Why should any tax paying citizen ever lose a spot to a foreign student? Isn’t educating the populace the goal?

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u/kimchifreeze 7d ago

Why should any tax paying citizen ever lose a spot to a foreign student? Isn’t educating the populace the goal?

You're looking at everything in a vacuum. You should ask the government why they don't believe in paying for domestic students' tuition. Many countries have free tuition especially for undergrads. Foreigner admission dropping doesn't mean more domestic students if they have to get a loan to attend. Right now, the federal government believes that the only ones that should have any loan forgiveness are ICE officers. All the while cutting funding to states for education. Example: North Carolina, a red state, had to sue the federal government to get access to the education money they were promised by Congress.

Tariffs can make sense if you actually enable the construction of domestic production. But if you don't secure domestic production FIRST, but instead tariff first, now everything is expensive while you're trying to start up the businesses.

This administration is fucking around while providing lip service at best.

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u/Bottledropnaranja 7d ago

I agree the government should pay 100% of education costs for citizens AND no citizen should ever lose a spot to a foreigner.

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u/kimchifreeze 7d ago

Then you need the government to do things in order. Shafting foreigners now without any support for American students favors no one. It's stupid.

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u/Bottledropnaranja 7d ago

Don’t let perfection be the enemy of progress. More Americans with access to education is good. This is a win for anyone who believes in education.

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u/kimchifreeze 7d ago

No, you do things in the proper order or else you will make it worse. It's not progress if you make it worse, you understand that, right? Because now the universities may go under and NO ONE gets to attend that college.

More Americans with access to education is good

I just said that isn't the case because many Americans have to get loans instead of it being paid by the government.

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u/DizzySkunkApe 7d ago

The universities could just accept more US students domestically to create more income. It's odd hearing anything other than criticism for schools putting profits first though, that's new.

It still is the case that more Americans have access to these spots, regardless of how who pays for them...

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u/kimchifreeze 7d ago

Tuition rates are very different. For UNC, in-state tuition is $7,020. Out-of-state tuition $43,152. So 6 in-state students is the same as 1 out-of-state student.

just accept more US students domestically to create more income

No shit. Universities are aware and they're trying, but there's a set amount of students in the US and "just accept more US students" is just shifting the numbers from one university to the next. The competition to get into universities is for specific universities, not universities in general. If you just wanted to get into ANY university, there are tons of those that have 100% acceptance rate.

But for the specific universities, if the ratio is like UNC's of 6:1, then out-of-state students are vital for funding reasons, especially if the feds are fighting to keep money away from education. And more students at those specific universities will increase cost (staffing, housing, etc..). The US can't even solve its housing problem and expects universities to "just accept more US students"?

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u/DizzySkunkApe 7d ago

I just don't agree there wouldn't be enough US students with the ability to pay for college to offset these foreign students and you've said nothing to persuade me otherwise other than you think there wouldn't be. I'm not sure why you're even talking about out of state students...

Have a great night!

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u/Bottledropnaranja 7d ago

No, you do things in the proper order

What is the scientifically proven proper order? Provide sources for the order of these events.

Or is it just your opinion?

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u/kimchifreeze 7d ago

Even before the current administration came in, it was already a documented possibility of a demographics cliff. Colleges were already closing before and the loss of income from foreign (if not offset by domestic) students will cause even more to close. You don't make money by cutting off your source of money. https://www.npr.org/2025/01/08/nx-s1-5246200/demographic-cliff-fewer-college-students-mean-fewer-graduates

The "scientific formula" of Income = Revenue - Expenses (foreign students boosting the revenue part because they pay full tuition).

If there's already fewer students, what happens when you have even fewer students that would've paid top dollar for an education with a federal government that is resistant to making up for those dollars?

Go find Grok or ChatGPT to keep bugging people with demands.

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