A new analysis released on December 30 by NAFSA and reported by Virginia Mercury/WTOP projects that falling international-student enrolment will shave roughly $23 million from Virginia’s economy in the 2025-26 academic year. The report cites federal policy changes—chiefly expanded travel bans, four-year visa-validity caps and processing slow-downs—as key deterrents.
Virginia’s 23,000 foreign students contributed an estimated $893.5 million in tuition and local spending last year. But graduate-level numbers have dropped more than 13 % at some public universities, and community colleges are feeling the pinch as well. The Commonwealth joins 34 other states that have posted mid-year revenue downgrades linked to smaller cohorts of fee-paying international students.
University finance officers told state lawmakers that fewer foreign STEM graduates could also erode research output and tech-sector talent pipelines. To mitigate the hit, some schools are offering deferred start dates, hybrid learning options and aggressive scholarship packages—measures that increase administrative costs even as revenue falls.
![International-Student Decline Could Cost Virginia $23 Million, Study Warns]()
Students, faculty and administrators looking for up-to-date guidance on changing visa requirements can turn to VisaHQ, an online platform that streamlines U.S. visa applications and tracks policy shifts in real time. Through its dedicated United States portal (https://www.visahq.com/united-states/), VisaHQ helps applicants assemble compliant documentation, monitor processing times and identify alternative visa pathways—services that can reduce the uncertainty now affecting university enrolment strategies.
NAFSA used the report to criticise President Trump’s recent expansion of the travel-ban list to 39 countries, noting that Nigeria—Virginia’s third-largest source market—now faces partial entry limits. The association argues that “blanket bans based on nationality” risk ceding the global education market to Canada, the UK and Australia.
For multinational companies, the data highlight a tightening domestic talent pool. Employers that rely on U.S.-educated foreign graduates for STEM roles may need to step up H-1B sponsorship budgets and explore remote-work models that place graduates abroad until visas clear.
Virginia’s 23,000 foreign students contributed an estimated $893.5 million in tuition and local spending last year. But graduate-level numbers have dropped more than 13 % at some public universities, and community colleges are feeling the pinch as well. The Commonwealth joins 34 other states that have posted mid-year revenue downgrades linked to smaller cohorts of fee-paying international students.
University finance officers told state lawmakers that fewer foreign STEM graduates could also erode research output and tech-sector talent pipelines. To mitigate the hit, some schools are offering deferred start dates, hybrid learning options and aggressive scholarship packages—measures that increase administrative costs even as revenue falls.
Students, faculty and administrators looking for up-to-date guidance on changing visa requirements can turn to VisaHQ, an online platform that streamlines U.S. visa applications and tracks policy shifts in real time. Through its dedicated United States portal (https://www.visahq.com/united-states/), VisaHQ helps applicants assemble compliant documentation, monitor processing times and identify alternative visa pathways—services that can reduce the uncertainty now affecting university enrolment strategies.
NAFSA used the report to criticise President Trump’s recent expansion of the travel-ban list to 39 countries, noting that Nigeria—Virginia’s third-largest source market—now faces partial entry limits. The association argues that “blanket bans based on nationality” risk ceding the global education market to Canada, the UK and Australia.
For multinational companies, the data highlight a tightening domestic talent pool. Employers that rely on U.S.-educated foreign graduates for STEM roles may need to step up H-1B sponsorship budgets and explore remote-work models that place graduates abroad until visas clear.
