U.S. colleges reported a 17% drop in new international student enrollment this year — the steepest non-pandemic decline in over a decade — a shift that a recent analysis ties to nearly $1 billion in lost local economic activity. The decline disproportionately hurts Main Street businesses that cluster around campuses, from restaurants to housing, and threatens jobs in college towns reliant on international tuition and spending. Concurrent domestic shifts show Northeastern applicants increasingly accepting offers at Southern public universities, attracted by lower costs and, in some accounts, campus experiences during the pandemic that favored outdoor activity. The migration is reshaping candidate pools and will force admissions and financial-planning offices to reassess pricing, recruitment geography and student-support services. For regional economies and institutions, the immediate consequence is both revenue loss and programmatic pressure: institutions must decide whether to invest in recruitment, adjust pricing, or retool academic offerings to attract different student demographics.