Key Points:AI-assisted summary
- • Purdue University's international freshman enrollment has dropped to its lowest point since 2008.
- • This decline is part of a nationwide trend, with some universities seeing an average 20% drop in international students.
- • Despite a record number of international applicants, Purdue's acceptance rate for foreign students is at a 10-year low.
- • Concerns over visa issues and government skepticism may be contributing factors to the enrollment dip.
WEST LAFAYETTE, IN — Purdue University enrolled its lowest number of international freshmen since 2008 this fall, according to U.S. Department of Education data, driven in part by a long-term selectivity trend and coinciding with increasing government skepticism of students from abroad.
This year's 525 international freshmen, per Purdue's public data portal, make up just 5% of the incoming class — a low point since 2004, when students from abroad made up shy of 4% of newbies at the school.
Purdue's dip follows a nationwide trend. Inside Higher Ed, a trade publication, reported Thursday that the number of students on an F-1 or M-1 educational visa has declined 1% from October 2024 to this year.
School-level analysis paints a starker picture: Among a group of nine universities that have shared their student demographics this fall, including Purdue and other Big Ten schools, international student enrollment has fallen an average of 20% year-over-year.
That figure is more in line with the predictions of groups like the National Association for International Educators, which estimated up to a 40% decrease in international representation among fall enrollment and 15% overall, based on constricting opportunities for visa procurement at U.S. consulates around the world over the summer.
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