News India Times

www.newsindiatimes.com – that’s all you need to know Dr. Sudhir M. Parikh Founder, Chairman & Publisher Ilayas Quraishi Chief Operating Officer Ela Dutt Editor Archana Adalja Contributing Editor T. Vishnudatta Jayaraman Advisor Arun Shah Ahmedabad Bureau Chief Peter Ferreira, Deval Parikh, Freelance Photographers Bhailal M. Patel Executive Vice President Chandrakant Koticha-Rajkot, India Executive Director Business Development Jim Gallentine Business Development Manager - U.S. Shahnaz Sheikh Senior Manager Advertising & Marketing Sonia Lalwani Advertising Manager Shailu Desai Advertising New York Muslima Shethwala Syed Sheeraz Mahmood Advertising Chicago Digant Sompura Consultant for Business Development Ahmedabad, India Hervender Singh Circulation Manager Main Office Editorial & Corporate Headquarters 1655 Oak Tree Toad, Suite 155 Edison, NJ 08820-2843 Tel. (212) 675-7515 Fax. (212) 675-7624 New York Office Tel: (718) 784-8555 E-mails editor@newsindiatimes.com advertising@newsindia-times.com subscription@newsindia-times.com Website www.newsindiatimes.com Chicago Office 8846 Lavergne Ave, Skokie, IL 60077 Tel. (773) 856-3345 California Office 650 Vermont Ave, Suite #46 Anaheim, CA 92805 Mumbai Office Nikita Ajay Pai Goregaon, West Mumbai Ahmedabad Office 303 Kashiparekh Complex C.G. Road, 29 Adarsh Society Ahmedabad 380009 Tel. 26446947 F ax. 26565596 Published weekly, Founded in 1975. The views expressed on the opinion pages are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect those of News India Times. Copyright © 2025, News India Times News India Times (ISSN 0199-901X) is published every Friday by Parikh Worldwide Media LLC., 1655 Oak Tree Toad, Suite 155 Edison, NJ 08820-2843 Periodicals postage paid at Newark, N.J. , and at additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address change to News India Times, 1655 Oak Tree Toad, Suite 155 Edison, NJ 08820-2843 Annual Subscription: United States: $28 Disclaimer: Parikh Worldwide Media assumes no liability for claims/ assumptions made in advertisements and advertorials. Disclaimer:The views and opinions expressed on this page are those of the authors and Parikh Worldwide Media does not officially endorse, and is not responsible or liable for them. Analysis News India Times (November 15, 2025 - November 21, 2025) November 21, 2025 3 - Continued On Page 4 Trump’s Crackdown On Foreign Students Barely Impacts Enrollment, Data Shows T he number of foreign students in the U.S. decreased by less than 1 percent this fall, according to new federal data, despite predictions that their enrollment would plummet this year due to a crackdown by the Trump administra- tion. While international enrollment has slipped at some schools with high percentages of foreign students, recruitment has remained surprisingly steady this semester at others around the country, school officials said. Overall, there were 1.3 million students with active visas in the U.S. in October, down a fraction of a percent from a year ago, the Department of Homeland Security reported. “We haven’t seen the bottom fall out” of foreign student en- rollment, said Clay Harmon, executive director of AIRC: The As- sociation of International Enrollment Management, a nonprofit trade group for schools and recruiters. International enrollment remains critical for many schools for funding, research and to expose students to a broader array of cultures and ideas, advocates said. Foreign students account for roughly 6 percent of student enrollment at U.S. colleges overall, but they make up a far higher percentage of the student populations at the country’s most prominent liberal arts schools and research universities. Some academic experts had warned that enrollment could plummet after the Trump administration’s actions against for- eign students: This year the administration restricted travel from 19 countries; sought to pressure schools to limit the number of foreign students; paused student visa screening interviews for three weeks while it revamped procedures; canceled thousands of visas for students who had been accused of crimes or over- staying their visits; and is trying to deport several for protesting the Israel-Gaza war. Administration officials have said they want to protect the country from criminals and terrorists, even though not all the students the government tried to deport have criminal records. An Education Department spokesperson said in a statement that the agency wants universities that receive taxpayer money to “prioritize expanding opportunities for American students.” “At the same time, we welcome talented foreign students who contribute positively to our campuses, communities, and economy, while ensuring that those who come to study in the United States respect our laws, values, and national interests,” the department said. NAFSA: Association of International Educators predicted in July that the number of new foreign students could drop as much as 40 percent this fall, costing college towns $7 billion and more than 60,000 jobs. Now the group’s chief executive, Fanta Aw, said she is “cautiously optimistic” the decline will be smaller than that. The group plans to issue an updated estimate later this month. Some elite schools that the Trump administration pushed to reduce their international enrollment also reported small declines in their freshman classes this fall. Columbia University, which signed onto an agreement with the administration in July that included a pledge to reduce its financial dependence on international students, reported its freshman class had 16 percent international students, down from 17 percent a year earlier. President Donald Trump unsuc- cessfully sought to bar Harvard University from enrolling any foreign students. This fall the school reported 15 percent of its freshman class is international, down from 16 percent in 2024. Both Harvard and Columbia, however, normally complete most of their undergraduate admissions decisions by March, before the Trump administration attempted to push colleges to limit their undergrad foreign enrollment to 15 percent. More than a dozen other universities with historically high international student enrollment contacted by TheWashington Post reported mixed results. Some said they have seen little change in their international recruitment this year, while others have seen notable declines. “It’s a fuzzy picture,” Harmon said of the enrollment trade group. Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, for instance, said 1 in 5 of its students come from other countries this fall, the same as last year, despite warnings that some students could have trouble entering the country. The three-week pause in schedul- ing visa interviews was not long enough to stop most incoming students from obtaining their documents, said Mandy Hart, the dean of admission. “This year was not markedly different than previous years in terms of students having issues with obtaining their visas,” she said. Hart said the school had many conversations with families concerned about the visa situation, but only a handful of incom- ing students decided to go elsewhere because of it. Other schools that reported only modest changes in interna- tional students this fall include the California Institute of Tech- nology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Rice University, Tufts University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Yale University. Rice, which is in Houston and recruits both undergraduates and graduate students from other countries, said it enrolled nearly 2,300 foreign students this fall, about the same as last year, accounting for 1 in 4 of its students. Still, several schools reported larger declines. The University of Maryland at Baltimore County’s foreign figures slipped 27 percent and St. Louis University reported a decline of 46 percent. The schools said those declines were con- centrated among graduate students. St. Louis President Edward Feser said the school’s foreign enrollment dropped primarily because it experienced a surge of demand in an international graduate program that has since waned. Historically, the State Department has issued reports showing the number of student visas approved each month, but it hasn’t published the data since May, frustrating and puzzling observers who rely on the data to put together forecasts. “It’s quite un- usual,” Aw said. The State Department said it provides data as soon as it is available but did not explain the delay. Researchers are now turning to other numbers for clues to en- rollment trends. One telling data point is the number of people with active visas in the Student and Exchange Visitor Program system. That figure has barely changed over the past year, sug- gesting foreign enrollment has remained steady. By ToddWallack PHOTO:GRACE DUVAL @NEWS.HARVARD.EDU Students walking in Harvard Yard.