Agus came to the U.S. from Indonesia in August to study computer science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
The 20-year-old, who is one of more than 100 Indonesian students enrolled at UIUC, chose the central Illinois school for its highly rated programs and connections to companies for which he dreams of working. He chose to remain downstate between semesters to live in the area’s welcoming community.
But he has felt terrified since the federal government said last week it would begin revoking the visas of some Chinese students.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the government would revise visa criteria “to enhance scrutiny” of student applications from China and Hong Kong going forward. Rubio said the U.S. would target visa-holding students studying in “critical fields” and “those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party.”
“I’m really scared because if Trump is going after Chinese students, it means it could happen to other students from other countries,” Agus said in an interview with the Sun-Times. He asked that his real name not be used for fear of repercussions.
Foreign students make up one in five of the school’s nearly 60,000 students. There are more than 6,000 Chinese students on campus, making up the largest group of foreign students.
To the university, any move to decrease that enrollment could have an outsized impact on both the campus climate and the school’s finances. The school has long welcomed foreign students: In 2007, it enrolled nearly 5,700 — which at the time was the most ever to attend a public university, according to Sun-Times reporting at the time. The global population has steadily increased since then and it remains second among all public universities, according to the Institute of International Education, a group that tracks foreign enrollment around the country.
A decrease could also impact other Illinois colleges. The state has more than 62,000 foreign students, putting it fifth overall in the nation, according to the Association of International Educators.
The measures announced by the White House make “people confused and fearful. These uncertainties are going to keep the best students away from the U.S.,” said Grace Chan McKibben, director of the Chicago-based Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community.
Too risky to talk, students say
Foreign students at the UIUC campus on Tuesday generally either declined to comment or asked not to be named, saying they feared repercussions.
“It’s too risky,” one said.
A Chinese-born student says the whole situation is “kind of stressful.” She said she just wanted to focus on studying. The student, who asked not to be named, arrived nine months ago from Ireland but is originally from China and is studying physics.
Another student from China who just finished a graduate program in statistics said he hoped to stay in the U.S. for a year or two, but he has friends who were denied visas even though they were accepted to doctoral programs in the U.S. or had been offered jobs.
“I’m actually feeling bad about it,” he said.
UIUC officials declined to be interviewed. But in written statements, administrators have tried to allay the fears of international students.
There is “a lot we do not know” about the changes, the school administration said last week. The federal government has stopped scheduling interviews that are often required for international students to stay in the country, the school said.
Martin McFarlane, the school’s director of international student and scholar services, in a separate statement to students called the Trump administration’s announcement “deeply unsettling.” He said the school would inform students of any changes to their visas.
The federal government has not said if it will target specific school programs. The top three majors among the U of I’s international students are computer science, electrical engineering and mechanical engineering.
School finances could take a hit
A drop in international student enrollment could financially hurt schools, particularly public universities that are already facing funding threats, said Rachel Banks, a senior policy director at NAFSA: Association of International Educators.
Many universities now rely on students who pay full tuition rather than lower in-state rates for revenue, she said. Depending on the major, an international student could pay as much as $70,000 including tuition, fees and living expenses, UIUC estimates.
Meanwhile, state spending on public universities has declined by 46% in inflation-adjusted dollars since 2000, despite recent increases under Gov. JB Pritzker.
“Increasingly, that state support has shrunk over time, so universities have turned to tuition, particularly out-of-state tuition, to close that gap,” Banks said.
UIUC made headlines in 2018 when it took out an insurance policy to protect itself from any drop in Chinese student enrollment. The school then reported it collected $60 million in tuition from international students. When COVID-19 hit in 2020, the school sought a payout from the policy as Chinese student enrollment dropped.
New barriers for international students could send those students to other countries.
“International students have so many more choices of where to study,” Banks said.
The move could impact Illinois’ college towns, too. International students spent nearly $2.4 billion in the state during the 2023-24 school year, according to a report by the Institute of International Education.
“A lot of those dollars are going directly into the college towns,” Banks said.
Wider repercussions of targeting foreign students
The potential visa restrictions target Chinese students. But the administration’s anti-Chinese rhetoric has a negative effect on all Asian Americans, said Danae Kovac, executive director of HANA Chicago Center, which advocates for Asian Americans.
“There’s a core racism there that is applied to Asians more broadly. It perpetuates a stereotype that Asian Americans don’t belong here,” Kovac said.
Agus, the student from Indonesia, said many of his friends are now stranded in their home countries without a way back to school next semester amid the halt in student visa interviews.
He says he has dreamed of being educated in the U.S. for years, and he cannot imagine another path.
“I don’t really have a backup plan because this has been my dream since I was a kid,” he said. “I just want to make a better life.”
Contributing: David Struett, Cindy Hernandez, Lisa Kurian Philip
