By Sanjeá Taylor, World News Editor
Since the Fall 2025 Semester, many colleges across the United States have been experiencing a decline in international student enrollment on campus, striking many conversations around the Saint Leo University. Now, many are wondering what’s causing this drop in international admissions and how it might affect diversity and the Saint Leo community.
According to data from the New York Times, The amount of first-time international students declined 17% this fall with The Guardian also reporting that this is the largest drop in international student enrollment other than during the Covid Pandemic.
What is the cause of this decline? According to BBC News and multiple other news sources, the decline is connected to changes in U.S. visa policy and processing that have made it harder for first-time students to get their student visas.
Some of the main reasons there was a decline in first-time international students enrolling in the Fall Semester, was because many students had to deal with long delays, an increase in denials, and many other administrative barriers, like stricter vetting processes.
The Guardian also reported that this Fall’s 17% decline comes after a 7.2% decline in the 2024-2025 school year, that fell between the end of the Biden Administration and the start of the current administration. During this period, the decline continued as visa enforcement got tighter, interviews got delayed or canceled, and there were also other, broader changes within immigration policy.
Rachel Andrews, director and designated school official (DSO) for International and Graduate Enrollment and aro for the Center for Global Engagement at Saint Leo, shared her thoughts on this decline and if it has affected Saint Leo in any way.
“Yes, there has been a national decline of international students, but it has not been significant. Here at Saint Leo, we have not seen a huge decline in students outside of the previous same numbers that we normally saw with students not attending,” said Andrews. “We’re still seeing roughly about the same number that we were seeing previously for new initial students.”
“However, people at other schools … say that they have seen some decline. But at Saint Leo, it has been discussed, even though we haven’t seen a decline, just to be able to address concerns that students are having,” Andrews added.
Despite this, there are still many additional positive and negative factors that influence international enrollment trends, and these often come up in discussions about the recent decline in U.S. international students.
“I think the biggest thing that influences students is cost. That’s always the biggest thing… And then, the level of diversity and international students at a university,” stated Andrews. Andrews also notes that perhaps even above cost, parents are concerned about the safety of the schools.
As an international student, there are many factors students and their families have to take into consideration. They must ask: “What is the school’s culture toward international students? Does the university have a strong international community?” These types of questions and the concerns behind them can also influence international enrollment trends for many schools.
Even after considering all of this and deciding to move forward as a first-time international student, there are still several obstacles that may prevent students from beginning their semester. Some of these issues may include visa appointment delays, processing problems, and policy changes, can all affect an admitted international student’s ability to arrive on campus or enroll on time.
“That has always been, for every university, the biggest challenge for international students: visa appointments, visa processing—the visa process in general,” said Andrews. “Certain countries are always going to have a more difficult time, so we have to admissions plan that out in their processing.”
“So, we haven’t really seen a difference in that, I think the biggest difference that we see year over year is that more people are choosing to come to the United States,” added Andrews.
Although this decline has not significantly affected Saint Leo yet, in the future it may as uncertainty remains surrounding international enrollment. If the decline continues, the impacts will likely become noticeable at Saint Leo.
“With international students you’ve got so many different students from different backgrounds, different religious groups, different cultural experiences, and having all those students here on campus interacting. It helps to create a culture of community,” said Andrews.
“We have so many students that bring so much life to this campus, because they are from different backgrounds, that they bring their culture to the campus,” add Andrews. “So, if there isany kind of decline in international students here at Saint Leo, you would feel it in the community as a whole.”
In order to make sure this decline doesn’t affect the Saint Leo community, the admissions office has been working to try and provide support for all new prospective students, whether international or domestic. They provide a variety of resources for anyone interested in studying at Saint Leo.
“We always try to provide resources and information and be a person that they can come to if they have questions, and to be someone on the other side of the phone that you know that if you email, if you call, you will have a counselor,” said Andrews.
“We also do have some specific scholarships for international students. We currently have our global citizen scholarship, which is available just for international students.” Andrews added,“and then when students are here on campus, our office is always available for them.”
The resources don’t stop there. Saint Leo is also working to introduce new resources and support systems specifically for international students.
“I think we’ve got some really great programs that we’re trying to bring to the university in the future and we’re really hopeful that there’ll be an opportunity for international students to seek out and to be options for them,” said Andrews
“We are really excited about some of those changes and different things we’re going to be offering for students, and we have also changed some of our processes to make it a little bit easier for students as well,” said Andrews.
