Daniyal Shahbaz typically wears a tie when he flies back to the United States from Pakistan, his home country. When he deplanes, a hall lined with U.S. Customs and Border Protection booths awaits. The Iowa State mechanical engineering and political science student hopes his tie will impress immigration officers, who have the power to admit or reject arriving international visitors like Shahbaz.
“It's a very tough pill to swallow,” Shahbaz, 20, told the Midwest Newsroom in a video call from Pakistan in July.
He is one of nearly 1.2 million international students traveling to the United States for a new college semester. Like many entering the country, Shahbaz is worried that border security will turn him away even though he holds a valid visa, potentially wasting two years of studying in the states.
“It makes me second guess any decision I want to make, anything I want to do,” Shahbaz said.
International students across the Midwest have experienced uncertainty since the second Trump administration began. The Department of Homeland Security has limited student visas, partially or completely banned travel from 39 countries and restricted grace periods before and after studying.
In July 2026, the Department of Homeland Security eliminated duration of status for F-1 student visas and J-1 exchange visas to combat “rampant visa abuse.” F-1 student visas allow individuals from other countries to study at a college or university in the United States, and J-1 visas are used for exchange programs at American high schools and colleges.
Foreign students used to be able to stay in the United States for as long as their academic programs lasted. Starting September 15, those with the F-1 visas will have a maximum admission period of four years to complete their studies. This includes people pursuing graduate degrees. If students want to stay longer, they must apply for an extension through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and go through complete “biometric vetting, background checks, and fraud screenings.” Additionally, international students in their first year will not be allowed to change majors or transfer to another university.
“I think in some ways (the federal government is) conflating international students with other populations that come here and overstay their visas,” said Anthony Ogden, founder and managing director of Gateway International Group which helps institutions and organizations pursuing international education.
International students are tracked throughout their time in the United States via the federal government’s Student and Exchange Visitor Information System. Less than 4% of 1.3 million students and exchange learners overstayed their F, M or J visas in 2024, according to a Department of Homeland Security report. And most international students leave the country after studying or getting job training, according to an analysis by the Economic Information Group, a bipartisan public policy organization.
“Advocates have been strongly suggesting to students that if you're out of the country, maybe think about coming back before this rule goes into effect,” Rekha Sharma-Crawford, an immigration lawyer and second vice president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
Shahbaz took that advice, planning to travel back to Ames on August 19.
“I've been like the most (law abiding) student ever. And still there's anxiety in me,” he said.
It is not uncommon for students with valid documents to be denied at ports of entry by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, Sharma-Crawford said.
More than 60% of American universities expect a drop in international student enrollment this academic year, according to a report from the Institute of International Education. Most schools attribute the decline to visa issues and travel restrictions.
“What we're seeing in the United States right now is not only a forceful enforcement of those who are undocumented, but also a forceful enforcement of those who are here lawfully and complying with the law and doing what they're supposed to be doing,” Sharma-Crawford said.
Impact on campuses, communities
According to the NAFSA: Association of International Educators, international students contribute over $40 billion to the nation’s economy each year.
Most international students pay full tuition to attend American universities. This money helps subsidize education costs for domestic students who rely on financial aid. For schools lacking large endowments, a cut to this income stream could bring fiscal concerns. Ogden said the policies targeting foreign students will have lasting impacts on higher education. It will also impact the economies of smaller colleges and towns that rely on international students for revenue, he said.
Nebraska Wesleyan University — a small private Methodist college in Lincoln — had 17 fewer international students enrolled in 2025 compared to the previous year. The college told Nebraska Public Media that what seems like a small drop can put a strain on its operating budget.
International students brought over $1 billion to Missouri and nearly $620 million across Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas during the 2024-2025 academic year, an Open Doors Report on International Education Exchange found. Students and recent graduates from other countries support more than 12,000 jobs across the four states.
“These students who are coming here represent the best and brightest people around the world,” Ogden said. “They're not just helping pay the bills, but they're enriching our classrooms, they're enriching our campuses and our communities.”
International students bring cultural diversity to universities while increasing national security, Ogden added. There could also be major implications for towns that rely on the patronage of students visiting from other countries.
“When every restaurant starts to close down, when bars start to close down, when gas stations start to close down, that's going to be the impact on some of these small towns,” Sharma-Crawford said. “That's the creation of a ghost town.”
The Midwest Newsroom analyzed enrollment data for 16 private and public universities in Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri. Most schools' international student population decreased by more than 10 percent from from 2023 to 2025.
Both the University of Central Missouri’s and the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s international student populations plummeted by at least 50%, according to enrollment records. And Saint Louis University’s dropped by 33%.
University of Central Missouri saw an increase in foreign undergraduates but a decline in international graduate students. The school attributes the drop in enrollment to various factors including a changing visa environment and shifting employment markets, Nicole Lyons, the school’s assistant director of communications and media engagement, told the Midwest Newsroom in an email.
Stacy Downs, the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s director of strategic communications, said in an email the school’s drop in international student enrollment is partially due to fewer F-1 visas for students. She added that the rise of artificial intelligence has lowered the popularity of their computer science degree, a common program pursued by international students at the school.
Saint Louis University did not respond to The Midwest Newsroom’s queries regarding the declines.
The University of Northern Iowa saw relatively major growth compared to other colleges, but the overall number is small. Its international student population varies slightly – between 40 and 50 – people each year, said Nicole Lyons, a spokesperson for the public institution, in an email.
Hurdles and help
The shifting policy landscape surrounding international education has left school administrators, foreign students and their families uncertain of the present as well as the future. University administrators told The Midwest Newsroom changing rules have made it harder for them to communicate the latest information to international students.
“It's just very confusing to try to dissect what exactly is going to be implemented and how those things are going to impact individuals because it truly is a case by case scenario,” Haley Williams, senior director of Global Affairs and International Student Services at Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas, told the Midwest Newsroom.
It has been increasingly difficult for students to get visas or even visa appointments. The Midwest Newsroom spoke with a recent Saint Louis University graduate and a current doctoral student under the condition of anonymity. Both are Chinese citizens and feared speaking on the record could affect their visa status in the United States. They said their friend in China was accepted to Saint Louis University but is struggling to obtain an F-1 visa before classes begin August 19.
Suman Subhash Naidu, a citizen of India, graduated from Saint Louis University in May with his master’s degree in analytics. He applied for Optional Practical Training, or OPT, which gives new graduates 12 months to work in the United States in a job related to their degrees.
In 2024, around a quarter of international students and graduates participated in the program. Those on F-1 visas used to have up to 60 days to apply for OPT after completing their degree programs. Under new changes to duration of status, international students have 30 days to obtain OPT approval.
With help from the St. Louis University career center, Naidu, 22, secured a full-time job as a business analyst in Belleville, Illinois, soon after graduating. He still travels often to the campus for advising appointments. The school has provided him with legal guidance even after graduating.
“Whenever I have any doubt, (my) international advisor is there,” Naidu told the Midwest Newsroom in an interview at the school’s Center for Global Citizenship.
Daniyal Shahbaz, the Iowa State student, grew up in Karachi, Pakistan’s capital and largest city with a population over 21 million. The small-town feel of Ames is what drew him to the school initially, he said. Iowa State is also one of the best institutions in the region for engineering, according to U.S. News and World Report.
Shahbaz arrived at the university as a mechanical engineering student. But, he wanted to make the most of his opportunity to study in the United States and decided to add a political science major. Shahbaz also works as the opinion editor for the Iowa State Daily, the university’s independent newspaper.
Writing and learning about politics has helped him better understand the changing policies impacting international students like him. However, Shahbaz fears his part-time job, scholarships and other resources could be affected in the coming school year.
“The anxiety that tomorrow could be when it changes drastically, it's a really scary thing,” Shahbaz said.
Shahbaz fears employers may not want to take a chance on him due to the perceived risk of hiring and sponsoring an international job candidate. The job market has also been especially tough for international students, a New York Times report found.
Uncertain outlook
New rules about visas and studying conditions have left potential international scholars to look in other directions. While most domestic universities saw steep declines in foreign enrollment, international student applications to schools in Asia and Europe spiked, a NAFSA: Association of International Educators survey found.
“I think those long-term effects on recruitment are mounting in terms of recruiting the next generation or in the next three to five, ten years,” Williams said.
Some schools have found success meeting international students where they are. At Fort Hays State University scholars can obtain course credit through partner institutions in their home countries. The university also sends faculty to teach at participating schools in Brazil, Bolivia, Cambodia. More than 3,300 took part in the program during Fall 2025, Williams told the Midwest Newsroom. The school also expects that number to rise this semester.
While the United States has 97 satellite colleges in other countries, few schools participate in what is known as “transnational education.” And it is not a long-term solution as most American institutions rely on international students to learn on campus and pay full tuition, Ogden said.
While Shahbaz is unsure of what will come during his junior year at Iowa State, he does his best to control what he can.
“Then if the opportunities work out, then they work out,” Shahbaz said. “If they don't, then I don't have any regrets that I didn't do enough.”
METHODOLOGY
For this article, Steph Conquest-Ware analyzed enrollment records from public and private universities in Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Florida and other states. They interviewed Daniyal Shahbaz of Iowa State University, as well as international students at Saint Louis University. Conquest-Ware interviewed immigration policy and international education experts in several states.
REFERENCES
Admission into the United States — U.S. Customs and Border Protection (April 2026)
Presidential Proclamation 10998 on Restricting and Limiting the Entry of Foreign Nationals — U.S. Department of State (December 2025)
Trump Administration Issues Final Rule to End Foreign Student Visa Abuse — U.S. Department of Homeland Security (July 2026)
Exit/Entry Overstay Report — U.S. Customs and Border Protection (August 2024)
Spring 2026 Snapshot on International Education Exchange — Institute of International Education (July 2026)
Most international graduates of American universities ultimately leave the U.S. — Economic Innovation Group (June 2024)
State Fact Sheets – Institute of International Education (2025)
Global Enrollment Benchmark Survey – NAFSA: Association of International Educators (2026)
International Students Contributed $43 Billion to the U.S. Economy in 2024-2025; Fall 2025 Spending Down by $1.1 Billion — NAFSA: Association of International Educators (2025)
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