Following efforts by the Trump administration to limit student visas, the number of new international college students in the U.S. fell by 17% this fall, according to a new nationwide survey.
The decline on Northern Colorado campuses, home to around half of the international students in the state, surpassed the national average.
At Colorado State University in Fort Collins, new international student enrollment dropped by more than 40%, down to 253 students this fall. At the University of Colorado Boulder, the number dropped by 27%.
In Greeley, at the University of Northern Colorado, numbers have been fairly steady, but international students make up a small percentage of total enrollment.
Schools throughout the area have taken note of the change year-over-year.
"We won’t speculate about the impacts of decisions made by the federal government," a CU Boulder spokesperson wrote in an email to KUNC. "What we can say is that international student enrollment declined on our campus and at most universities nationwide this fall. For now, our focus is on supporting CU Boulder’s existing international community."
CU just launched a new planning effort to make sure the school remains “an attractive and supportive destination” for international students.
CSU didn’t respond to KUNC’s questions on the drop in new foreign students.
