As Trump took office, number of international students at Mass. colleges was on the upswing

But there are signs of a reversal this school year.

Northeastern University enrolled more than 22,000 international students last academic year, the most of any college in Massachusetts.Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff

Even ahead of sharp new restrictions imposed by the Trump administration, the number of international students coming to college in the US was ticking downward, though their ranks in Massachusetts stayed strong, a new report found.

There were roughly 1.2 million students from abroad studying at US universities in the 2024-25 academic year, down 1 percent from the year prior, according to a survey out Monday from the Institute of International Education. About 84,000 attended schools in Massachusetts, a 2.4 percent increase from the year before.

Northeastern University, Boston University, Harvard, MIT, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, were the top five institutions for international attendees in the state.

The figures give reason for some optimism in Massachusetts, a coveted location for foreign students who bolster the state economy with both tuition dollars and high-dollar spending.

For months, experts have been warning of a decline in the number of international students, as the Trump administration has tightened visa approvals and arrested students engaging in campus activism.

Harvard University is one of the top destinations for international students coming to Massachusetts.Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff

Monday’s report, which includes the spring semester when those shifts began, is a sign that international student enrollment may be resilient in the face of mounting political threats. But the data also threads in cause for concern.

Students from abroad spent $3.5 billion in Massachusetts, down almost 10 percent from the prior year. And enrollment of new international students, for example, declined by 17 percent nationwide this fall, the report found.

Enrollment data in Massachusetts also shows that international student totals are now down at some public colleges in the Commonwealth, sometimes by hundreds of students. (Most elite universities in the state were spared from significant declines.)

One big factor in this fall’s downturn: A slowdown in student visa screenings in India this summer, the Globe reported last week. That said, India and China remained the top countries of origin for foreign students in Massachusetts by far in the 2024-2025 school year, followed by Canada, South Korea, and Vietnam, the report found.

The drop in new students this fall is “pretty unprecedented outside of the pandemic or 9/11, both very unusual events,” said Richard Garrett, chief research officer at the higher education research servicer EduVentures. “We’re seeing some negatives from the changing climate in the U.S., but I don’t think it’s necessarily falling off a cliff.”

Across the country, the decrease in the international population at universities can be largely attributed to a 15 percent drop in new graduate students, according to the report. That may spell trouble for Massachusetts, where the ranks of graduate students in the state has ballooned this century. The majority of international students here are pursuing a masters’ or doctorate degree.

There have been other changes as well, like a reduction in the size of the renowned Fullbright scholarship program.

Last year, the US Department of State funded 287 international students last year through the Fullbright scholarship, down from 360 the year before, according to the report. The future of the program is hazy now after all but one member of the Fullbright board resigned in July due to alleged political interference from the White House.

MIT is among the major destinations of international students coming to Massachusetts.David L. Ryan/Globe Staff

“Some of the changes we’re seeing in new enrollment may be related to some of the more recent factors related to international students,” Mirka Martel, head of research, evaluation and learning at IIE, said on a press call last week.

Fewer foreign students could impact the bottom line of universities that have come to rely on them for both undergraduate tuition and graduate school research support. It could also hurt the economy of college-heavy areas like Greater Boston.

Foreign students support over 35,000 jobs in the Bay State that could be impacted by downturn in international interest in the future. Already, the declines in students from abroad is dribbling out into the housing market, increasing vacancies in student-centric neighborhoods including near Symphony Hall, Mission Hill, and Northeastern University in September.

Outside of Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island both saw slight increases in the number of international students, 1.2 and 4.6 percent respectively.

Dartmouth, Brown, and the Rhode Island School of Design remain the leading institutions for enrolled international students in both states. Foreign students in New Hampshire and Rhode Island also spent less money in the US in the last school year compared with a year prior.

“A close read of enrollment figures from last year and this fall shows that the pipeline of global talent in the United States is in a precarious position,” Fanta Aw, executive director of NAFSA, a nonprofit for international educators, said in a statement. “Other countries are creating effective incentives to capitalize on our mistakes. The United States must adopt more proactive policies to attract and retain the world’s best and brightest.”