Foreign students applying to US colleges fell 10% in 2026

• Foreign student applications to US colleges dropped about 10% in 2026, the largest decline in a decade, mainly due to stricter visa rules under the Trump administration.
• Applications from Asia and Africa fell sharply, while European applicants also declined as other countries attracted potential US students.
• More students submitted SAT or ACT scores in 2026, reversing the test-optional trend, partly influenced by policy changes promoting standardised testing at many universities.

WASHINGTON – The number of international students applying to attend US colleges this fall tumbled about 10 per cent, the biggest decline in at least a decade, according to data released on Aug 20 by the country’s most widely used college application platform. 

Nearly 16,000 fewer foreign students vied for spots at US colleges in 2026 than in 2025 as the Trump administration ramped up efforts to restrict overseas students from entering the country, including by changing visa rules, according to a report released on Aug 20 by Common App.

The report surveyed 1,146 schools, up 4 per cent from the 2024-2025 school year. 

The drop is the clearest signal yet that American universities are likely to see steep international enrolment declines this fall.

That will add to the mounting financial pressures facing many American colleges, already hit by a shrinking number of university-age students and questions about the value of higher education. 

The Common App report showed double-digit declines in applications from Asia and Africa, but the number of European students applying to American campuses also fell by 4 per cent, reversing years of steady increases.

That came after countries including France and Germany stepped up efforts to attract students disillusioned with the prospect of a US education. 

Visa changes

The number of domestic college applicants, meanwhile, rose by 4 per cent, driven largely by a 9 per cent surge from the south-west US. 

Over the past year, the Trump administration made several changes to student visa rules and undertook a concerted effort to limit the number of foreign students entering the country.

During the 2024-2025 application cycle, which ended shortly after the Trump White House first began its crackdown on student visa holders, the number of foreign applicants fell by just 1 per cent from 2023-2024.

Rodney Hughes, Common App’s senior data scientist, said the recent plunge was the largest they’ve seen since they started collecting digital data in 2013. 

“If it’s harder to get a visa, that might make it less likely that students apply,” Hughes said. 

The trend of declining foreign enrolment could accelerate after recent changes to decades-old policies limiting the ability of visa holders to change majors, switch schools and remain in the US after graduation. 

The decline in applications was unevenly distributed across institutions, with data suggesting a larger cushion for the most competitive universities than for those with a lower global profile.

International applications to the most selective schools, those that accept fewer than a quarter of their applicants, fell by just 1 per cent, whereas those accepting more than half of applicants saw a roughly 20 per cent drop, according to the study.

SAT resurgence

The report highlighted a number of other trends in higher education as well.

For the first time since 2019, more students reported standardised test scores on their applications than omitted them.

The number of applicants sending in SAT or ACT scores rose by 11 per cent over the previous year, and the number not reporting fell by 5 per cent. 

“Test scores certainly seem to be in vogue,” Hughes said.

That development comes after a stream of high-profile universities including Yale, Columbia and Princeton announced they were returning to testing requirements after nearly five years of testing-optional policies.

The pivot has resurfaced a debate over the benefits of standardised test scores at campuses across the country, including the University of California, where admissions officers have been banned from considering test scores since 2019. 

Both the decline in international students and the resurgence of standardised testing are policy victories for President Donald Trump.

The administration has made clear that it views test-optional policies – which tend to benefit poorer, non-white applicants – as potential proxies for illegal affirmative action at top colleges.

But universities that don’t require testing still far outnumber those with mandates.

Only 5 per cent of colleges require SAT or ACT scores from applicants, up from 4 per cent from 2025 but down from 55 per cent in 2019, according to the Common App report.

Among the report’s other findings:

• More than 1.5 million students applied to US campuses in 2026, up 2 per cent from the previous cycle.
• The number of applicants who qualified for a Common App fee waiver grew by 6 per cent in 2026, and those from ZIP codes with low median incomes grew by 8 per cent.
• Black applicants were the fastest-growing racial group, with an 8 per cent increase over 2025.
• Female students continue to apply to college at increasingly higher rates than men. Roughly 848,000 women applied to schools in 2026, up 3 per cent from 2025, compared to 678,000 men. BLOOMBERG