US State Dept report says Indian enrolment drops across majority of US colleges in 2025

By Anjali Sharma

WASHINGTON – US State Department-funded new report issued on Tuesday stated that US universities have reported a 10% drop in graduate enrollment from India in 2024-25, alongside a sharper 17% decline in international students in the fall of 2025.

The “Open Doors” report by the Institute of International Education, released showed that over 61 per cent of the total schools have reported a drop in enrollment of Indian students in the fall of 2025.

The data, based on a survey of 825 US institutions, showed that more than 96 per cent of US institutions reporting declines in new students cite visa application concerns as the top reason, followed by travel restrictions to the United States.

In 2024-25, India remained the biggest source of foreign students in the United States, represented half of the total graduate students and around one-third of the total students, registered an overall increase of 10%.

The graduate programs saw a decline of 10 per cent.

According to the report, over half of the US colleges and universities surveyed for the fall of 2025 said their new international student enrollment had declined.

Trump administration has intensified its scrutiny of international students, rolling out a series of measures that universities say are already weighing on enrolment.

The Department of Labor opened over 170 investigations into alleged abuses of the H-1B visa pipeline, a major post-study route for foreign graduates.

The White House has backed a new $100,000 application fee for H-1B applications.

White House spokesperson defended the Trump administration’s H-1B visa policy, told media that the $100,000 application fee is a “significant first step to stop abuses of the system.”

White House Spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said “The $100,000 payment required to supplement new H1-B visa applications is a significant first step to stop abuses of the system and ensure American workers are no longer replaced by lower-paid foreign labour,”

The conservative lawmakers have pushed legislation to sharply curtail or even phase out the H-1B program entirely, with proposals that would strip visa holders of any pathway to permanent residency.

Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene posted on X, reiterated her plans to introduce a bill to “ban H1B visas in all sectors” except the medical profession.

“Ending H1B visas will also help the housing market. Ending H1B visas means more jobs available for Americans and more homes available for Americans. When Americans have good-paying jobs, they will be able to buy homes as long as they don’t have to compete with legally imported labor on visas and rich, powerful asset management companies,” she added.

State Department has revoked at least 6,000 international students’ visas since January, media reported.

International students make up about 6% of the U.S. higher education population and inject $55 billion into the American economy, according to the US Department of Commerce.

The spending supports over 355,000 jobs across the country, media reported.