Even as overall numbers fall, Indian undergraduate student interest in U.S. holds firm Premium

Overall Indian student admissions to the U.S. declined by 30% in 2025, while undergraduate numbers saw a smaller decrease. Rising costs and visa challenges had a greater impact on postgraduate enrollments.

While the total number of active Indian students in the U.S. dropped by 27.9% for the academic year 2024-25, the number of undergraduate students dropped by only 13.5%, indicating that this segment of the Indian student population was holding up.

Education consultants The Hindu spoke to indicated that this was likely because of expenses going up or other countries becoming more attractive than the U.S. Financial reasons are key for enrollment in Master’s and higher education, while the largely self-funded undergraduate students have little reason to move away from the U.S. These trends are likely to continue this year too when there could again be a dip due to Trump’s unfavourable policy, tightening of visa requirements, confusion, and so on.

Undergraduate admissions of Indian students in the U.S. showed steady growth from 2014 to 2020. These admissions almost doubled from 12,311 in 2014 to 25,069 in 2020. There was, however, a drop during the pandemic, with only a little above 22,000 admissions.

Overall, the admissions, however, saw a post-pandemic surge between 2022-2024. At around 35,934 in 2024, the number was the highest in the 11 years. In 2025, though, these admissions slightly fell to 31,051, possibly due to tightened visa policies, economic challenges, and competition from other countries.

There are more fluctuations in the total number of admissions of Indian students when compared to undergraduate students. There was a 27.9% drop in total admissions compared to a 13.5% drop in undergrad admissions in 2024-25. Master’s, STEM OPT seekers, and Ph.D. students are more sensitive to economic trends, job market prospects, and immigration policies. A commonality in both trends is that undergrad and overall admissions peaked around 2024. The decline after 2024 is sharper for total admissions compared to undergraduates.

A student who is currently working in the U.S., after pursuing his Master’s in the country, on the condition of anonymity, said that the U.S. has been a difficult space. The fear of deportation has reached its peak as the current administration has made it difficult for students to stay in the U.S. After COVID, many people are struggling to find employment, and employment rates are getting lower every year. “There are mass layoffs which come with uncertainty whether you’ll even be working tomorrow or not,” he said.

Experts say the same trend will follow in the coming year, undergraduate admissions won’t be affected as much as Master’s and Ph.D. The picture could stabilise in the coming two years with more clarity on Trump’s policies.