Trump And Miller Compel Colleges Not To Enroll International Students

The Trump administration is using various policies and formal agreements to discourage U.S. universities from enrolling international students. A controversial immigration clause in the administration’s agreement with Columbia University represents the latest move to decrease international student enrollment. Settlements with other schools could soon follow. Despite what economists and educators view as the benefits of international students, Trump officials, led by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, appear determined to reduce the number of international students who enter and remain in the United States to work.

For example, Trump officials and Columbia University signed an agreement on July 23, after the administration withheld over $400 million in federal research funds. The Trump administration accused the school of not sufficiently combating antisemitism on campus. Under the new agreement, Columbia will pay $200 million to the U.S. Treasury and an additional $21 million into a fund associated with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to settle claims. A Resolution Monitor will “monitor Columbia’s compliance” with those and other provisions. Columbia’s leadership decided that future and current funding, more than $1 billion, would remain at risk without a settlement.

The agreement includes a controversial provision that commits Columbia University to decreasing international student enrollment. The measure has received little attention. On page nine, the agreement states, “Columbia will examine its business model and take steps to decrease financial dependence on international student enrollment.”

The measure is extraordinary, given that international students typically pay higher tuition than domestic students. Admitting more international students would likely improve the school’s finances.

A Controversial Immigration Provision In The Agreement With Columbia University

“It makes no economic sense for U.S. universities or the American economy to admit fewer international students,” Mark Regets, an economist and senior fellow at the National Foundation for American Policy, told me in an interview. “The United States benefits economically in several ways from international students and the same is true for the universities where they enroll.”

The number of U.S.-born men and women of college age is declining, which means a more prudent policy for U.S. universities and the federal government might be to attract more international students.

“Without immigrants, international students and the children of immigrants, the undergraduate student population in America would be almost 5 million students smaller in 2037 than 2022, or about two-thirds of its current size, while the graduate student population would be at least 1.1 million students smaller, or only about 60% of its current size,” according to a National Foundation for American Policy report by Madeline Zavodny, a professor of economics at the University of North Florida.

Zavodny’s report also found that a higher enrollment of international students is associated with an increase in U.S. students majoring in STEM fields, stating: “Each additional 10 bachelor’s degrees—across all majors—awarded to international students by a college or university leads to an additional 15 bachelor’s degrees in STEM majors awarded to U.S. students.”

According to Zavodny, “Colleges and universities that attract more international students likely are devoting more resources to STEM areas, such as increasing the number of courses and adding fields offered within STEM, hiring more faculty, and providing new lab spaces and buildings. To the extent such changes are occurring, they appear to be attractive to U.S. students as well.”

International students also contribute as employees and entrepreneurs. At U.S. universities, 71% of the full-time graduate students in computer and information sciences and 73% of the full-time graduate students in electrical and computer engineering are international students. Regets added that even students who leave the country help connect Americans to the three-quarters of the research and development activities that are performed outside the United States.

According to a statement released by NAFSA: Association of International Educators: “International students studying at U.S. colleges and universities contributed $43.8 billion and supported 378,175 jobs to the U.S. economy during the 2023-2024 academic year.” NAFSA expects the travel ban, visa interview suspension and limited appointment availability to result in a potential decline of 30% to 40% in new international student enrollment in the fall of 2025.

“One-quarter (143 of 582, or 25%) of billion-dollar startup companies in the U.S. have a founder who first came to America as an international student,” according to an NFAP analysis.

Earlier this year, President Donald Trump said at a press conference that Harvard “should have a cap of maybe around 15%” of international students in its student body.” In their agreements with universities, Trump officials may focus on including a provision to decrease financial dependence on international student enrollment at schools with a larger proportion of international students. While international students represent about 40% of Columbia University’s enrollment, the proportion is only about 14% at Brown University and it was not forced to include the provision on international students in an agreement signed on July 30.

Stephen Miller’s Impact On Immigration And The Columbia University Agreement

Why does an agreement spurred by an investigation into Columbia University’s lack of response to antisemitism on campus include a measure to reduce international student enrollment at Columbia? The answer is that Miller leads negotiations between the White House and U.S. universities, and he may be using the opportunity to promote anti-immigration policies.

Indeed, CNN reported that university leaders across the country are privately “negotiating with a deputy to top Trump aide Stephen Miller in hopes of avoiding the same aggressive targeting of Harvard University.” Many such university representatives are negotiating with senior White House policy strategist May Mailman, who CNN reporter Betsy Klein identified as working closely with Miller to enact the Trump administration’s ”strategy to target colleges over concerns they are not sufficiently policing alleged antisemitism on their campuses.”

In addition to the agreement with Columbia, the Trump administration has enacted or proposed other policies to make it more challenging for students to come to America and work after graduation. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph Edlow said during his confirmation hearing that he wanted to eliminate the ability of international students to work in the U.S. via the Optional Practical Training and STEM OPT provisions after graduation. An upcoming rule would utilize salary “weighting” to modify the H-1B selection process, likely disadvantaging early-career individuals, particularly international students.

Another rule in discussion, although not yet publicly confirmed, might end the current duration status policy, forcing international students to obtain extension approvals if they wish to continue their studies beyond two or four years. Since the Trump administration has also threatened to deport thousands of international students for minor infractions, suspended visa interviews, and banned students from entering the United States to attend Harvard, the next step may be for the Trump administration to revoke visas for many Chinese students or imposed new social media review policies. All of these steps, both individually and combined, have the cumulative effect of prohibiting many international students from coming to the United States, especially students from several countries like Cuba or Haiti, which were mentioned in the recent travel ban proclamation.

So far in 2025, the Trump administration has launched investigations against more than 50 universities. White House officials have stated in the press that they hope the Columbia agreement will serve as a model for settlements with other universities.