The number of international students enrolled in Minnesota’s colleges and universities this fall has plummeted as the Trump administration enacts policy changes that restrict the issuance of student visas, making it more difficult for students from other countries to come to study here.
College administrators who work with international students say the student visa denial rate is soaring, and many prospective students tell them that it is becoming much more difficult to even schedule visa appointments with the U.S. consulate in their country. And on top of that, starting on Sept. 15, the federal government will also impose new limits on how long international students can stay in the U.S. on student visas.
Many international students already studying in the United States are now wondering about the future of their studies and whether they’ll be able to complete their degrees here.
Kelma Ngwa Amambua, 21, is a sophomore from the small west African country of The Gambia, and she is currently working toward a degree bioinformatics at Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato.
“I was also looking forward to pursuing a master's degree or some sort of postgraduate degree here in America,” said Amambua, as she took a break from studying on a recent late summer afternoon on campus. “But that process has also become more difficult.”
Amambua told MPR News she is trying to keep the doubts about her higher education experience from affecting her studies.
“As time went on, the anxiety increased because I was uncertain about my future,” Amambua said. “I understand that this is what’s happening and there are reasons that things have come this way. … I am more accepting of the fact that this is the new order of the day here, and it’s likely that I will have to move out right after I’m done with my degree. But, I’m also optimistic that as time goes on, things may change.”
Visa denials increase
International student enrollment at Bethany Lutheran last year increased to a record high. Jeff Lemke, vice president of admissions and marketing at the small, private liberal arts college, said international students make up about 20 percent of Bethany’s entire student population. He said that was due in part to the hard work the college does to help students and their families navigate a complex visa process and by staying in contact with them.
But Lemke said getting a student visa now is even more challenging than it was in 2025.
“We saw roughly a 30 percent increase in visa denials compared within [the] last year,” he said. “So, that’s had a real impact on the number of students that were ultimately able to join us at the start of the year.”
About two miles away, Minnesota State University, Mankato is also seeing many fewer international students arrive on campus for the fall semester, as international student enrollment is expected to drop about 10 percent.
Will Coghill-Behrends, dean of Global Education at MSU Mankato, said the decline in enrollment has an outsized impact on the university’s budget, as international students typically pay higher tuition rates than domestic students.
“We’re anticipating losses in the millions, literally, over the last three or four semesters of this downturn that we’ve experienced in international enrollments,” Coghill-Behrends said. “That becomes a visceral consequence of that kind of thing.”
However, the lost revenue isn’t the only way the loss of international students affects the entire student body, Coghill-Behrends said.
“We really are trying our hardest to prepare students for their world, their future, which is undoubtedly global,” he said. “We’re ultimately doing them a disservice, because their opportunity to learn from and with each other is one of the things that helps them become the best and the most prepared professionals for their future careers.”
‘A massive trust deficit’
The group NAFSA: Association of International Educators projected international student enrollment nationwide in the 2026-2027 school year to plunge almost 18 percent from last year. That decline will cost college cities and towns across the country an estimated $3.4 billion in economic activity.
Although Minnesota’s final public and private college enrollment figures for the fall term aren’t available yet, most schools say they will have significantly fewer international students on campus this fall, which will likely cost the state more than $40 million dollars in lost economic activity this year.
Fanta Aw, CEO of NAFSA, said in addition to the financial impact, there is a tremendous loss in the lack of intellectual and cultural exchange that usually takes place on college and university campuses. She’s concerned about the message the U.S. is sending to the rest of the world.
“There is a massive trust deficit from the rest of the world when it comes to the U.S. right now,” Aw said. “Every single one of us who believe that we, the United States, is part of the world — and not apart from — have to work triply hard to make sure that our allies, our colleagues around the world, understand that we, the people, believe that this is still important in spite of our government.”
The Upper Midwest Newsroom is a public media collaboration between Wisconsin, North and South Dakota, and Minnesota, made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
