With colleges across the U.S. worried about losing international students, Nevada’s two largest state universities pledge to remain a welcoming home for students venturing to Nevada from abroad.

As part of his broader effort to reshape higher education, President Donald Trump has pressed colleges to limit the number of international students they enroll. His administration has moved to deport foreign students involved in pro-Palestinian activism and placed new student visa appointments on weekslong holds as it ramped up vetting of applicants' social media. By August, the State Department had already revoked more than 6,000 visas from international students studying in the U.S.

While this tightening of international students has hit state run colleges across the country, UNR, has not experienced a similar downturn. UNR spokesperson Scott Walquist told The Nevada Independent that international enrollment this fall was up 2 percent compared to last year. The university is now home to 528 master’s and doctoral students and 228 undergraduate students who hail from countries outside the U.S. 

Keyonna Summers, a spokesperson for UNLV, said the university does not yet have final data on fall 2025 enrollment but that “the UNLV administration is carefully monitoring federal policy updates surrounding this.”

Data on enrollment for this year is not yet finalized, but the nonprofit National Association of International Educators (NAFSA) predicted in July that the new academic year would bring 150,000 fewer international students. Immigration data reviewed by Forbes found that compared to 2024, this July saw 50 percent fewer students arriving from India and 30 percent fewer students arriving from China, two of the countries that send the most students to the U.S. 

Already, some colleges have announced losses in their international enrollment, ranging from a 3 percent decline at Arizona State University to a 15 percent decline at the University of Buffalo in New York and a 33 percent decline at Indiana State University.

Although UNR’s international student population increased, the university has still noticed the effects of Trump’s more restrictive immigration policies. 

Walquist, the UNR spokesperson, said getting a student visa has become harder, highlighting new guidance that insists students apply for visas from their home countries. Previously, visa applicants were allowed to complete interviews in other countries whose systems were less backed up.

A first-year international student at UNR, who spoke anonymously due to concerns about her visa process, said there were “significant challenges” with visa renewal.

“Increased administrative processing … is common, especially for science, technology, engineering, and math majors, causing delays that can last weeks or months,” she said. “Many students are waiting for renewal and avoid international travel during this period.” 

The student completed her own visa interview in her host country, but said that the “long backlog of visas can be psychologically stressful for international students.”

UNLV has already felt the effects of Trump’s more aggressive visa policies. In early April, seven of UNLV’s international students had their visas temporarily revoked. All were reinstated by the end of the month.

Michael Kagan, a UNLV law professor and director of the university’s immigration clinic, told The Nevada Independent that “the UNLV visa cases were mainly over small incidents — like a minor arrest that had already been disclosed and cleared up. The government was going back to these cases and saying, actually, no, we will cancel these,” Kagan said. “Which made that especially harsh, and clear that this administration was applying a different standard.”

UNLV and UNR told The Indy that increased scrutiny from the Trump administration would not change their recruiting strategies. 

“International students and scholars are vital members of our university who help to further our mission every day through impactful teaching, research, and community engagement,” Summers, the UNLV spokesperson, said in a statement.

After the seven student visas were paused in April, UNLV Global — the university’s international student-focused hub — hosted a “You Belong Here” event, where speakers and students celebrated their international student community. 

Walquist wrote that UNR “has been emphasizing international recruitment for many years” and that their approach was unchanged by the administration’s new policies.

UNR and UNLV have websites dedicated to international students, including providing updates and advice on visa policy. UNLV also runs an after-hours immigration emergency line. 

Students report that both universities have lived up to their promise of remaining a home for international students. Andrew Cirincione, a non-international student who is the president of UNR Young Democrats, said he commended the university for its response to the increased pressure from the Trump administration. 

“UNR has done a very good job at maintaining and pushing back against some of what we're seeing nationally,” he said. “I think the campus has always been welcoming for all walks of people.”

The international student attending UNR echoed this sentiment.

“The UNR campus itself remains welcoming, but the broader political climate creates caution,” she said. “Many international students are hesitant to travel outside the U.S., fearing visa delays or denials when reentering.” 

She also said that the newer, more aggressive policies had made it “common to hear of prospective students … considering alternatives, like the U.K., Canada, Australia or Singapore, due to visa concerns, safety, and the high cost of U.S. education.” 

Nationwide, one reason higher education institutions are so scared of losing international students is financial. Most foreign students are not eligible for federal financial aid and often pay full price for tuition — double or even triple the in-state rate paid by domestic students at public universities such as UNR and UNLV.

“In the economics of American higher education, international students are a moneymaker,” said Kagan, the UNLV professor. “People may believe these students take slots from American students, and it's really probably the contrary. They are financing additional slots for American students, or even additional financial aid for American students, or at least giving universities more money they can use for other programs.”

Strains on international enrollment will only add to distress for schools already on the financial brink. Small schools — typically classified as those with no more than 5,000 students — tend to have less financial flexibility and are thus more vulnerable, said Dick Startz, an economics professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. UNLV and UNR have more than 32,000 and 22,000 students, respectively.

Neither UNR or UNLV commented on the financial implications of Trump’s visa policies on their schools.

Even beyond tuition dollars, Kagan believes the U.S. economy could suffer broader harm if it loses international students. The 1.1 million international students in the U.S. infused an estimated $50 billion into the economy in 2023, according to the federal Department of Commerce.

Luena Rodriguez-Feo Vileira, Makiya Seminera and Collin Binkley of The Associated Press contributed to this article.