The Trump administration’s war on blocking international students from U.S. higher education could affect not only the Ivy League but even small Christian schools and Southern Baptist Convention seminaries.
While Harvard University has drawn the most attention and headlines in the president’s attempt to curtail international student enrollment, a little-known fact is this: International students have been growing as a percentage of enrollment at all American colleges and universities.
The national average of international students at all U.S. universities is 6%.
For example, 2022 data from Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Indiana shows 52% of its student body are foreign students.
Some Christian schools, such as Calvin University (20%) and Cornerstone University (8%), also report higher than average international student attendance. Other schools, such as Wheaton College (3%), report lower than average.
A Liberty University photo highlighting the C. Daniel Kim International Student Center. (Photo by Chase Gyles)
Liberty University proudly proclaims nearly 700 international students are among its student body of more than 100,000 enrolled graduates and undergraduates. Because so much of Liberty’s student body studies online, that may not equate to international students living on campus. But elsewhere, it does.
At Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, 26% of the student body comes from abroad. While all six of the seminaries affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention enroll international students, only Southwestern has reported this number so clearly.
Online data analytics platforms suggest enrollment at many smaller Baptist seminaries in the U.S. ranges between 0% and 9%, and their websites suggest most of these schools openly appeal to international students and proclaim to have students from dozens of countries.
Among private Christian universities, international student representation can make for a prominent population of the students. Texas Christian University, also in Fort Worth, Texas, reported 4.9% of its fall 2024 class being international students, with the largest majorities coming from Vietnam, India, Mexico, Honduras and Panama.
Bob Jones University reports 8.2% of its student body is international students, coming from 36 countries. Its largest representation is from China, the Dominican Republic, South Korea, Canada and Germany.
Moody Bible Institute reports 7.3% of its student body is international students, with the largest contingent coming from India, South Korea, China, Indonesia and Brazil.
The current threat
As of May 27, U.S. embassies were instructed to pause interviews for international students applying for education visas as the administration implements stricter vetting procedures. Less than a week prior, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem began targeting Harvard’s ability to enroll international students and demanding they transfer to other schools. This was just the latest slug in a months-long series of legal battles between Harvard and the president.
Now, just weeks before the start of the fall 2025 semester, international students and college administrators are scrambling to figure out if the administration is going to allow them on campus this fall, let alone which campuses they’ll be able to apply for, pending legal challenges in the courts. These legal battles are raising significant concerns for international students seeking an education in the United States, who risk losing their visas, getting arrested or facing financial consequences.
Why they come
On a large scale, it isn’t hard to discern why international students seek an American education. Ivy League schools are internationally renowned institutions. World leaders and politicians regularly send their children to Harvard and Yale.
Of the nearly 25,000 students attending Harvard, 27.2% are international students. The majority of international students come from India and China, followed by South Korea, Canada, Taiwan and Nigeria.
Among private Christian schools, including seminaries, the attraction is seeking high-quality religious education that often prepares graduates to return to their home countries as ministry leaders. Among Southern Baptists, this movement began with the expansion of U.S. missionaries going around the world and recruiting international students to their alma maters.
U.S. schools like to attract international students who typically pay full tuition.
But today, the draw is even greater. And U.S. schools like to attract international students who typically pay full tuition.
As the world changes and markets shift, American schools are making the attraction of international students a priority. Higher education institutions have been preparing for a forthcoming “demographic cliff” that could mean a drop of 13% in enrollment between 2026 and 2041. As fewer U.S. students enter the academy, these schools look to international students to fill the seats and pay the tuition.
This has placed international student interest as one of the core solutions to bolstering enrollment in the coming decades. In a 2018 press release, Biola University in Southern California wrote proudly of being declared one of the 181 best universities for international students by US News & World Report.
“International students inform and enrich the global community that we are trying to build. The classroom experience is richer because a student from Sweden, South Africa, South Korea and Orange County are wrestling with complex matters from a global perspective, yet coming to the solid foundation that a Biola education is founded upon, the Word of God,” wrote international admissions director Fitsum Mulat.
Christianity Today has reported international students are looking at issues like affordability, quality education, care for international students and transitional support in housing and living assistance in their decision to attend school in the U.S. Among religious students, biblical fidelity and community are the primary draws for international students to attend American seminaries.
“According to our first-year student surveys, the No. 1 feature at Bob Jones University is a biblical worldview education,” says International Student Engagement Coordinator Bryan Boudreau. “After that is academics connected to jobs, and networking/relationships, especially faculty to student. Affordability is probably the No. 1 need after deciding on a Christian institution. Students look for daily chapel, Bible classes, opportunities for prayer, mission/outreach, Christian friendships and mentorships, and for many a Christian spouse.”
And there’s this important fact: Calvin University Vice President for Enrollment Strategy Lauren Jensen, reports international students maintain a higher annual retention rate than American students at 90%.
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