Eastern Michigan University saw enrollment of 32% fewer international freshmen students for the fall 2025 semester, on par with a nationwide decrease of overall international students in the United States.
This decrease comes after a travel ban on 19 countries earlier this year, a number that is expected to increase. It also follows reports of more than 6,000 student visas revoked this year by the U.S. Department of State, including at least two EMU students.
“International students have to get what’s called a U.S. visa in order to come to the United States, and what we saw over the last year under the current administration is that some visas have been revoked, and so that could be a scary thing for a student at a higher ed institution to think that they’re pursuing a degree, and then maybe that they’re no longer eligible to complete that degree,” said Katie Condon, vice president of enrollment management at EMU.
Nationally, universities and colleges saw a 17% decrease in new international student enrollment this fall, the Institute of International Education reported. 57% of higher education institutions across the country reported a decrease in new international student enrollment, the report said.
Last fall, EMU had 79 freshmen international students enroll; this fall, the number fell to 53, Condon said.
There was a 32% decrease in new freshmen international enrollees at Eastern Michigan University this fall compared to last fall.
“We don’t enroll a large percentage of international students, but certainly, 30 to 40 less students makes an impact for Eastern,” Condon said. “We try to be as welcoming of an institution as possible for international students, but there, of course, is hesitancy from international students in pursuing a degree in the United States in general, and so we have to be responsive to that.”
There was a long lag time in which the federal government was not issuing new student visas, particularly in the late spring and early summer, so students were unable to get a visa appointment to be able to study in the U.S., Condon said.
“That created a little bit of a backlog, that students could be waiting a course of 90-plus days in order to even get an appointment to find out if they were eligible to receive that visa to come to the U.S.,” Condon said.
In June, the Department of State issued a statement that it would be vetting the social media accounts and online presence of visa applicants. Of the U.S. colleges and universities that reported decreased international student enrollment, 96% cited visa application concerns as a factor, and 68% pointed to travel restrictions, said the IIE report.
“We are hopeful that all of those things have been figured out and that it’ll be an easy process again for students to be able to study in the United States,” Condon said. “But we certainly want to be aware of the rhetoric that is out there, but we know international students are an important component of the global diversity on our campus.”
This year, EMU saw an increase in international transfer students, which has a different meaning than it does for domestic transfer students, said Jeremiah Munce, interim director of the Office of International Students and Scholars. For international students, it means transferring ownership of one's Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or SEVIS, record from one institution to another, Munce said. That could mean transferring from an English as a Second Language school or from another college or university; usually, SEVIS transfers are already studying in the U.S., he said.
A new visa is not required for a SEVIS transfer student who is already studying in the U.S., Munce said. 17% of international students at EMU this semester were SEVIS transfer students, he said, based on data he provided in September 2025.
Student visas at EMU
There are three categories of student visas: F-1 Student Visa, J-1 Exchange Visa and M-1 Student Visa. At EMU, most international students are on an F-1 visa, Munce said. Data from the university showed that 611 of the 632 international students at EMU this fall were studying on an F-1 visa. EMU sponsors the F-1 and J-1 visas that students use to come to the university to study, he said.
At EMU, international students can access support and resources through the Office for International Students and Scholars on campus. The OISS offers advising, activities and assistance for international students.
Munce's office focuses on regulatory and compliance, to make sure visa-holding students maintain their status.
The office is tasked with reporting student visa information to the government, which requires regularly checking SEVIS, the electronic database where visa records are stored for the government, to make sure international students at EMU are meeting the requirements of their visa. This includes stipulations, such as the number of credits a student visa holder is enrolled, he said.
"International students have to maintain a certain amount of credits every semester, and they have to be in a majority of in-person slash hybrid courses," Munce said. "Undergrads need to be in 12 credits every semester of the academic term, which is fall and winter semester, and nine of those credits need to be in person or hybrid, so we're constantly sending information to our students to make sure that they're able, when they register for classes, that they're meeting those requirements."
The OISS is located on the second floor of the Student Center in Room 240.
Financial considerations
The international student population at EMU is a bit different than other universities, Munce said.
"Our international student population is, actually, we have a larger number that are undergrads than grads, and typically, historically, undergrads have a bit more challenge in getting visas than graduate students, and a lot of that has to do with when they're going through the visa interview, it's harder to prove that they have the financial capability of paying for the program," Munce said. "There's a big difference between an 18-year-old and how much money they have, versus, say, a 24-year-old."
Majority of international students at Eastern Michigan University pursue a bachelors degree.
Students applying for visas must produce documentation showing an estimated 12 months of funding for tuition to be approved, Munce said.
Unlike other colleges, students at EMU pay just one tuition rate that does not change based on whether a student is from in or out of the state or country. However, international students tend to have access to fewer scholarship opportunities and are not eligible for U.S. federal financial aid.
Because international students pay the same tuition rate as other students at EMU, the financial impact of fewer international students is less significant on the institution's bottom line, Condon said. At flagship institutions, like the University of Michigan and Michigan State University, international students pay top dollar to attend school.
At U-M, the estimated cost of tuition and fees for international undergraduate Literature, Science and Arts college students was $63,962. In comparison, in-state students pay an estimated $18,346 in tuition and fees. For these universities, it could take two to three in-state students to make up for the lost tuition revenue of losing one international student, Condon said.
The decline international student enrollment in the U.S. resulted in an economic loss of $1.1 billion in revenue and the loss of nearly 23,000 jobs nationally, analysis from NAFSA: Association of International Educators and JB International found. In Michigan, that translated to an economic loss of $36.4 million in revenue, the analysis found.
Nearby universities
Some other Michigan colleges and universities have also seen some decline in international student enrollment this fall.
At the University of Michigan, there were 8,667 international students total in the fall 2024 semester; this number dipped to 8,136 in fall 2025. While there was an uptick in first-year international enrollment this semester for U-M, new international undergraduate transfers and international graduate enrollment figures saw some decline.
At Oakland University, there were 644 international students this fall, reported an OU webpage with fast facts about the university. Last fall, OU reported 720 international students, showed data from the university's international enrollment dashboard.
