Student visa refusals reached a 35% high last year, with some countries seeing rejection rates above 90% of applications, according to a new report cited in the coverage. The report argues the current visa landscape undermines the principle of merit-based entry. Separately, earlier pandemic-era shifts show how remote schooling can reduce college-going outcomes: a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper found that when K-12 instruction turned fully virtual in 2020-21, FAFSA submission rates fell by 4.2 percentage points and first-year college enrollment dropped by 2.5 percentage points. For higher education institutions that rely on both international graduate pipelines and first-year enrollment from FAFSA-completing students, these developments highlight enrollment risk factors at two points in the student journey—visa access and financial aid application momentum. Together, the stories suggest universities will need to strengthen international recruitment support and financial-aid outreach and student guidance systems, especially for students less likely to receive in-person counseling reminders.