Katie Nader, Special to The Denisonian–
This fall, Denison experienced a noticeable decline in international student applications for the class of 2029 — a reflection of a broader national trend across the United States.
Senior Associate Director of Admissions Bryce Benton said Denison University saw about a 20% decrease in applications from international students this year. Factors such as visa challenges, rising global competition, and shifting student preferences are key to the decline of applications.
There still isn’t sufficient data on fall 2025 international enrollment for all colleges. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a federal agency, is the commonly accredited source for the Institute of International Education (IIE) Open Doors report on enrollment, which has yet to be published.
According to Benton, Denison’s numbers of admitted international students have not changed much, although further detail was not provided.
When asked how many international students decided not to attend Denison in comparison to the classes of 2028, 2027, and 2026, Benton said, “[Denison’s] yield rate on offers of admission for international students this year was roughly 3% less than the average of the last three years.”
Why are fewer students applying? Visas are changing — and fast.
International student Lam Do ‘26 has a STEM Optional Practical Training (OPT) visa. Once she graduates with a degree in computer science, she will be able to stay and work in the U.S. for up to three years. A standard OPT allows students to stay one year post-graduation for work. After the extended time period is up, students have the option to apply for H-1B visas, a non-immigrant visa. H-1B allows students to continue their post-graduate work in the U.S.
On Sept. 19, the fee to apply for an H-1B visa was changed from roughly $1,500 to $100,000, effective Sept. 21.
Language from Trump’s proclamation, which implemented this change, stated that the visa program “has been deliberately exploited to replace, rather than supplement, American workers with lower-paid, lower-skilled labor.”
Do returned to Vietnam this summer and was closely watching the conflict between the Trump administration and Harvard, as the administration threatened to revoke Harvard’s ability to admit international students.
“It was scary, even as someone who has really good academic records,” Do said. “My dad was like, ‘Will you even be able to, like, go back and finish your senior year?’ It affects everyone. I could imagine if I just finished high school and wanted to go here, I might change my plans.”
Associate Director of Orientation and First-Year Experience Kate Tull is in charge of off-campus orientation trip assignments for incoming first-years. When reviewing the trips, she noticed that a few would only have one international student.
“That might be uncomfortable for that student,” Tull said. “We don’t expect students to jump completely out of their comfort zone on day three of college. It’s actually good if there are folks who are from their same country.”
She tried to mitigate this issue by moving a few students to different groups to ensure they had someone familiar on the trips with them.
Speaking English was a big insecurity for Do as a first-year. Having peers in the same situation was important for her experience.
“Seeing other people having the same struggle as me, we share some values of coming here and adapting to the whole new culture,” Do said. “Not having that is not having a really important support system… Not seeing people who are like me would make me feel a little bit isolated.”