For decades, activists and economists have urged America’s elite universities to expand their undergraduate enrollment. Yet the schools resisted, keeping class sizes artificially small to protect their prestige and climb college rankings. Now, thanks to President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, some of these same institutions are finally serving more Americans — democratizing access to elite education and opening transformational opportunities to thousands of students who were previously shut out.
Over the last 30 years, U.S. college enrollment has surged, expanding opportunity and lifting productivity. But this dramatic growth in demand was never matched by elite universities. Their undergraduate class sizes have remained flat, or grown only marginally, even as applications doubled or tripled.
Meanwhile, the number of international students at elite universities has exploded. More than a quarter of all students — graduate and undergraduate combined — at institutions such as Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Stanford University now come from abroad. For elite universities, their alumni, and foreign students, this arrangement is ideal.
Small class sizes and massive global demand allow elite schools to maintain extreme selectivity. Harvard’s acceptance rate fell from 12% in 1999 to just 3% for the Class of 2027, a statistic that boosts brand value, attracts donors, and preserves the exclusivity that alumni prize. International students, who often pay full tuition, further strengthen university finances, allowing institutions to enhance resources without increasing the number of seats for Americans.
For middle- and working-class American students, however, the system has been devastating. As more Americans compete for stagnant elite admissions spots, universities have filled many of these seats with high-paying international applicants. The result is a bottleneck that suppresses upward mobility and weakens the nation’s domestic talent pipeline.
Trump’s immigration crackdown is disrupting this imbalance. By limiting student visas and compelling elite universities to reduce international enrollment, his policies are forcing schools to do what reformers have long demanded: admit more Americans.
Columbia University, where 39% of students are international and account for 60% of net tuition revenue, is now expanding its undergraduate population by 20% to offset the decline in international enrollment. It is the clearest sign yet that when elite universities can no longer rely on foreign students to maintain their model, they will finally make room for the Americans they have long overlooked.
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International students bring real economic, cultural, and academic value to American campuses. They should remain a part of any university’s mission. But balance matters. A share consistent with America’s interests is closer to 15%, not the 40% seen at Columbia or the 25% common at most elite institutions, ensuring the benefits of international enrollment without allowing revenue incentives to crowd out opportunities for qualified American students.
For years, elite universities put alumni prestige and foreign cash ahead of their basic duty to the American people. Trump’s immigration crackdown is finally putting an end to that imbalance. By reducing their dependence on international students, these institutions are being forced to serve the nation that built and sustained them in the first place. American families deserve first claim on America’s best schools, and this correction is a long-overdue victory for fairness, opportunity, and national cohesion.
