New study shows just how many international students Idaho has lost | Opinion
A new report shows that international student enrollment in Idaho has declined 3.9% in the past year.
The study, by Manifest Law, an immigration law firm that looked at U.S. visa data, shows Idaho’s international student enrollment dropped by 142 students, from 3,655 in March 2025 to 3,513 in March 2026.
The 3.9% decline in international student enrollment in Idaho was a slightly larger decline than the 3.6% decline nationally. Idaho fell in the middle of the pack, with the 23rd highest percentage drop in the nation.
Nationally, enrollment peaked in 2025 and declined in the past year. International student totals reached 1.326 million in March 2025 during a post-pandemic rebound before declining to 1.278 million in March 2026.
The state of Washington recorded the largest year-over-year drop, with international student enrollment falling by 15.8% between March 2025 and 2026, followed by Hawaii at 10.5% and Montana at 9.9%.
The biggest hit in Idaho came to the University of Idaho.
University of Idaho’s new incoming international undergraduate numbers fell to 82 last fall, a drop of 59% compared to the previous fall, which saw 200 new students. Overall, the university’s international enrollment was down 13.5% from 820 to 709.
“It’s dropped significantly,” Chandra Zenner Ford, CEO, University of Idaho Boise and Southwest Idaho, said at a City Club of Boise forum in March. “It’s a big impact, and for us, especially. They pay full fare for us at the University of Idaho, and so from a financial standpoint, it’s also a big hit, because those students, in essence, support our Idaho students, because of what they pay when they’re attending the university.”
She described it as “another piece of the pie” being cut from their budget, on top of state funding cuts.
Boise State University wasn’t hit quite as hard.
This spring, the number of international students seeking an undergraduate degree was up 8.5%, but that represents an increase of just nine students over spring 2025. But international graduate degree seeking enrollment was down 12%, or 26 students, from spring 2025 to spring 2026.
Zenner Ford said that federal immigration enforcement actions have had a big impact, a sentiment echoed by David Douglass, president of the College of Idaho.
“We have so many students who have been accepted and have a desire to come but cannot make it because they can’t get visa permission to travel,” he said at the same forum.
I couldn’t get numbers for the College of Idaho, but Douglass said they’re feeling the effects, as well.
“We have students from every continent, and we’ve had over 100 countries represented in our relatively compact population on campus,” Douglass said. “Over the last four or five or six years, we have seen, along with everyone else, that number, that fraction, it has dropped precipitously.”
College of Idaho does not differentiate between in‑state and out‑of‑state tuition, Douglass said, so there isn’t a special financial premium for international students.
But, he said, the loss of international students is felt in other areas.
He spoke movingly about the experiences that a kid from Rigby, Parma or Greenleaf has rooming with someone from South Sudan or Nepal.
“And I cannot overemphasize the importance of that experience,” he said. “It is possibly the most transformative aspect of their experience in college.”
Douglass said the United States is losing students to such countries as Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.
“We have students who are perceiving that this is no longer a welcome environment for them to study,” Douglass said. “And it turns out that all of our competitor nations … are delighted to welcome these students into their nations and retain them.”
He calls it “a brain drain.”
“The absence of this flow of capable students internationally into our state, many of whom wish to achieve citizenship, work on green cards, remain in state and contribute to our economy and our quality of life, they are deciding to go elsewhere,” he said. “I cannot describe to you how important this is. It’s such a source of vitality, and it’s one we should — we must — address going forward.”
International students flock to the United States for good reason. We have the best higher education system in the world, and the U.S. benefits from students from other countries. Our communities are better, our colleges and universities are better and our students are better because of their presence. Scaring them away makes us a little bit worse. It’s yet another example of a policy by the Trump administration that’s hurting, not helping, the country.
Scott McIntosh is the opinion editor of the Idaho Statesman. You can email him at smcintosh@idahostatesman.com or call him at 208-377-6202. Sign up for the free weekly email newsletter The Idaho Way.
