The number of international students applying to attend US colleges this fall tumbled about 10 per cent, the biggest decline in at least a decade, according to data released Thursday by the country’s most widely used college application platform.
That development comes after a stream of high-profile universities including Yale, Columbia and Princeton announced they were returning to testing requirements after nearly five years of testing-optional policies. The report highlighted a number of other trends in higher education as well. Nearly 16,000 fewer foreign students vied for spots at US colleges this year than in 2025 as the Trump administration ramped up efforts to restrict overseas students from entering the country, including by changing visa rules, according to a report released Thursday by Common App. The report surveyed 1,146 schools, up 4 per cent from the 2024-2025 school year. For the first time since 2019, more students reported standardized test scores on their applications than omitted them. The number of applicants sending in SAT or ACT scores rose by 11 per cent over the previous year, and the number not reporting fell by 5 per cent. The pivot has resurfaced a debate over the benefits of standardized test scores at campuses across the country, including the University of California, where admissions officers have been banned from considering test scores since 2019.
“Test scores certainly seem to be in vogue,” Hughes said.
The drop is the clearest signal yet that American universities are likely to see steep international enrollment declines this fall. That will add to the mounting financial pressures facing many American colleges, already hit by a shrinking number of university-age students and questions about the value of higher education. Over the past year, the Trump administration made several changes to student visa rules and undertook a concerted effort to limit the number of foreign students entering the country.
The number of domestic college applicants, meanwhile, rose by 4 per cent, driven largely by a 9 per cent surge from the Southwest US. During the 2024-25 application cycle, which ended shortly after the Trump White House first began its crackdown on student visa holders, the number of foreign applicants fell by just 1 per cent from 2023-24.
