U.S. institutions are confronting a sharp drop in new international enrollments after visa interview pauses and processing delays left tens of thousands of admitted students stranded in 2025. Admissions offices report prospective students withdrew or chose alternative destinations after watching peers remain in limbo; some programs report application drops of 50–70 percent. Higher-education leaders warn the revenue and classroom impacts are broad: STEM, business and graduate engineering programs felt the largest declines. The sector’s exposure is fiscal as well as operational — international students contributed roughly $55 billion and supported hundreds of thousands of jobs in 2024–25. Why it matters: universities will need new recruitment strategies, financial contingency plans and localized enrollment pivots as institutions replace lost tuition and research contributions. State systems and campus budgets that relied on international tuition face immediate pressure to rebalance amid tightening domestic demographics.