According to a report on Friday, the Department of Homeland Security restored the legal status of thousands of international students.

University experts largely praised the move, which was caused by court challenges and lawsuits raised by affected students and their attorneys, a victory for students and higher education in general, but the benefits may be short-lived.

But sudden changes in policy in the Trump administration have caused some international university applicants to reconsider plans for next year and whether they want to study in the United States fully.

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"Overall, it's a very positive development," said Robert Franek, editor-in-chief of Princeton Reviews. He said it provides the necessary clarity for international students who must be until Thursday, May 1 (National College Decision Day) - most schools will choose which institutions they will attend in the fall.

For colleges and universities, “International admission is an incredible value in the classroom,” Fronick said. For this purpose, he said university administrators remain highly focused on “to have students with different experiences and many different voices represent.”

However, international students’ enrollment is also an important source of income for American universities and universities, which is why schools need a group of foreign students who usually need to pay their tuition in full. Experts say this financial dependence makes them a key component of the higher education system.

But due to recent changes in the U.S. government’s policy on student visas, which was discontinued and then reactivated immigration status for thousands of students, “there are many international students who acknowledge great universities and are skeptical about whether they will appear,” Fronnick said of the fall 2025 plan.

A private university consultant who works with most families from abroad said he has seen changes in priorities for college boundaries clients, which has caused tensions over further policy changes.

“So much uncertainty and uncertainty is not good for long-term planning,” said Hafeez Lakhani, founder and president of Coach Lakhani in New York.

Lakhani explained that he is working with his family to “assess the risk” before the enrollment period. Other high school students who have applied for college in one year or more are rethinking their plans, he said.

"We have seen some international students show more interest in Canada and the UK - which benefits from recruiting talent and tuition fees in other countries," Rakani said.

According to the latest open door data released by the U.S. State Department and the Institute of International Education, most of the United States have more than 1.1 million international undergraduate and graduate students from India and China, mainly from India and China.

During the 2023-24 school year, the United States had a record number of students from abroad, up 7% from the previous year. India surpassed China, and as the highest dispatch country, India sent more than 330,000 students.

According to another report by NAFSA: International Association of Educators, international student enrollment contributed $43.8 billion to the U.S. economy in 2023-24.

"Foreign students present unique challenges to the Trump administration's hard-line immigration policy efforts," said Christopher Rim, president and CEO of university consulting firm Command Education.

“On the one hand, international students make up the majority of foreign residents in the United States and are some of the most politically outspoken,” Reims said. “But they are also the most economically favorable.”

However, according to RIM, RIM also works with clients around the world, and the United States remains the primary option among college students applying for top institutions, which is unlikely to change overnight.

"Last week, I spoke to a crowded audience of hundreds of students and parents in Hong Kong, talking about the admissions of foreign and international families at the Ivy League and the top U.S. universities," Reim said on Monday.

“Despite global changes, unique and wealthy families remain very eager to send their children to the U.S. for higher education,” he explained. “They continue to see the U.S. as the home of the world’s leading universities.”