OPINION: The Trump Administration's Foreign Student Policy at Harvard
- Therina Brutus
- 6 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 6 days ago
A rally in support of international students on Tuesday at Harvard University. Lucy Lu / The New York Times
The Trump administration has announced plans to significantly restrict the amount of international students in the United States. The federal government has ordered embassies to suspend new student visa appointments in preparation to increase social media vetting* of applicants for student and foreign exchange visas. Last year, more than 1.1 million international students resided in the United States. In that academic year, these students contributed around $44 billion to the US economy. Losing international students does not hurt only universities, but also any services catered to consumers.
President Trump has decided to effectively ban Harvard University from enrolling international students as part of his clampdown on higher education. Visa holders form around a quarter of Harvard’s student body. These students are much more likely to pay full tuition, which
is often almost two to three times as much as it is for domestic students. They are essential for the funding of these institutions and often enhance the student body academically. The previously mentioned clampdown on higher education places constraints on much of these institutions’ regular activities. It included substantial cuts to the federal funding of research, as well as higher taxes for university endowments. Harvard, in particular, has had billions of dollars in cuts to its federal funding. President Trump has also said that he wants to revoke the institution’s tax-exempt status, as well as cancel all remaining contracts that the federal government has with Harvard, which are worth around $100 million. The Trump administration has accused Harvard of liberal bias, considering that the school continued to violate the Supreme Court ban on affirmative action. It goes so far as to suggest that the school coordinates with the Chinese Community Party, to which the Secretary of State Marco Rubio says that American officials will “aggressively” revoke the visas of Chinese students and apply more scrutiny to future Chinese applicants for U.S. visas. Moreover, the Trump administration further accuses Harvard of “perpetuating an unsafe campus environment that is hostile to Jewish students, promotes pro-Hamas sympathies, and employs racist ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ policies,” as in the letter Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem wrote to Harvard. The administration thus argues that it warrants the barring of enrolling international students, calling it a mere privilege. Harvard’s president has recognized past issues with antisemitism and outlined how the school intends to fix it in letters to the federal government.
As with the current state of the foreign student policy, there is much left up in the air. Before the federal hearing on May 29th, 2025, which concerned the school’s ability to admit and enroll international students, the Trump administration’s lawyers submitted court documents that gave Harvard 30 days to contest its ability to enroll foreign students being taken away. Harvard’s lawyers have argued that Harvard has become a political target of the Trump administration in violation of its First Amendment Right to the Freedom of Speech, which must be considered thoroughly with a decision of such magnitude.
Though we may not know what the future holds for international students in the United States, we must continue to recognize higher education as a right for all rather than a privilege for some. Harvard renews its commitment to this principle, as the university refuses “to surrender its academic independence or relinquish its constitutional rights.”
*Social media vetting: The practice of reviewing the online presence of student and foreign exchange visa applicants to assess potential risks of allowing certain people to study in the U.S.
Sources
Charalambous, Peter. “Trump Administration Backtracks on Harvard Foreign Student Policy.” ABC News, 29 May 2025,
Goldstein, Dana. “Why Is Trump Targeting Harvard’s International Students?” The New York Times, 29 May 2025,
Goldstein, Dana, et al. “Judge Will Block Trump From Barring Foreign Students at Harvard, for Now.” The New York Times, 30 May 2025,
Ho, Vivian. “Here’s How Much International Students Contribute to the U.S. Economy.” The Washington Post, 29 May 2025,
Nadworny, Elissa. “Judge Blocks Trump Administration’s Effort to Bar Harvard From Enrolling International Students.” NPR, 29 May 2025,
www.npr.org/2025/05/29/nx-s1-5415714/harvard-judge-trump-international-students. Yousif, Nadine. Students Say They “regret” Applying to US Universities After Visa Changes. 28 May 2025, www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62n02ez3v0o.
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