Trump’s War on Student Visas Raises Election Stakes for Colleges

Every year, students from around the world pump about $40 billion into U.S. colleges and their home towns -- akin to spending Harvard University’s massive endowment -- while helping subsidize the cost of education for Americans nationwide.

But now the annual infusion is shrinking: Enrollment of freshmen from abroad is down 14% this fall, a drop set off by the coronavirus pandemic and spurred on by an onslaught of Trump administration proposals. Whether that money rebounds will heavily depend on next week’s election.

Colleges and universities have been sounding alarms in the final months of the presidential contest between ...