Fewer international students enrolled in the State University of New York this fall, as the Trump administration continues its forceful campaign to remake the American higher education system.
International enrollment at SUNY is down 4% this school year, fueled by a collapse at the graduate level by nearly 14%, according to preliminary data this week. More than 20,600 students from other countries learn on SUNY campuses.
The drop was particularly notable because it came as the state’s public university system encouragingly notched total enrollment gains for the third consecutive year — the first time that’s happened in almost two decades.
“We think that’s a very good sign, yet we’re concerned about the international enrollment,” SUNY Chancellor John King said during an interview Wednesday with the Daily News. “We certainly have heard anecdotally from students and from families concern about the degree to which the United States is welcoming international students.”
“Historically, part of our strength as a country has been attracting the best talent in the world to our universities. But the Trump administration tone toward international students has undermined that.”
New York hosts the second-largest population of international students in the United States, and SUNY’s University at Buffalo was one of the state’s top three institutions where they came to study last year, according to a new report this week from the Institute of International Education. (The top two are New York University and Columbia University.)
SUNY Buffalo is on pace to enroll 16% fewer international students this year if current trends hold, the school data showed. International students make up a single-digit share of the SUNY population, but close to one-fifth of Buffalo students, said King, a former U.S. education secretary under President Barack Obama.
The drop comes amid a changing landscape for international students under the Trump administration, which has delayed visas, limited work opportunities, implemented travel restrictions and even pushed some colleges to scale back their registration.
Earlier this year, the federal government and Columbia agreed the New York-based private college would “take steps to decrease financial dependence on international student enrollment.”
While SUNY has not faced the same targeted action, last semester dozens of international students temporarily had their visas revoked. New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a brief in support of a legal challenge to college student deportations that said SUNY had recorded a “sharp decline” in applications from abroad.
“That was very jarring for folks,” King said. “Then you’ve got other countries who are saying, ‘Please come here instead.’”
Despite changing federal policy, the international student population on American college campuses has held mostly steady — though cracks are beginning to show.
While total international student enrollment fell by only 1% this fall, the number of new registrants from other countries plummeted by 17%, according to the Institute of International Education report. The downward trend could spell trouble, auguring more declines in the coming years as current students finish their degrees.
The White House appeared to welcome the report’s findings, with the press secretary sharing its coverage on X amid the first full school year of President Trump’s second term. In other contexts, Trump has expressed desires to root out certain ideologies on college campuses and free up space for Americans.
The Daily News reached out to the City University of New York to provide the same data, but did not hear back other than to confirm receipt.
King threw cold water on the idea that fewer international students on campus is better for Americans.
“They’re bringing their enthusiasm and academic background to the classroom,” he said. “In many cases, international students are also enriching the classroom dialogue for the American students. They’re exposed now to issues and perspectives quite different from what they’ve been experiencing in the past.”
The chancellor also pointed to the executives and engineers at American companies or the individuals who get patents that came to the United States as international students: “So they’re contributing while they’re at the higher education institution,” he said, “but they’re also contributing more broadly to the country’s economic success.”
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