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Impact of Trump's 15% cap on foreign students in US colleges on Indian Students
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  • Impact of Trump's 15% cap on foreign students in US colleges on Indian Students

Impact of Trump's 15% cap on foreign students in US colleges on Indian Students

JasmineUpdated on 13 Oct 2025, 06:17 PM IST

The USA has always been a top choice for Indian students looking for high-quality education and to gain practical experience after their education. There has been a proposal to introduce a 15% cap on international student admissions in USA colleges by President Donald Trump. In addition, he has restricted that a minimum of 5% of international students will come from any one country. With Indian students currently representing one of the largest international groups in USA, this policy will impact the Indian students. According to the 2024 data from the US Department of Homeland Security’s Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), over 270,000 Indian students were studying in the US, making up about 28% of all international students. By introducing this cap, the process of studying in USA will become competitive for Indian students. Read along to understand what the new policy in the USA is and its impact on Indian students.

Impact of Trump's 15% cap on foreign students in US colleges on Indian Students
Impact of Trump's 15% cap on foreign students in US colleges on Indian Students

What is the 15% cap in USA for international students?

The US government has shared a proposal called ‘A Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education’ with nine US universities. The 15% cap is proposed for the universities on international students. The policy is as follows:

  • Limit the number of international undergraduates to 15% of the total undergraduate enrollment at each school.

  • From every country, the cap for international students must be 5% the undergraduate population.

  • If accepted, then the universities will receive federal funding, research grants, or other benefits. Universities that agree will get access to better funding, while those that do not might receive reduced federal support.

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Which are the affected universities from the 15% Cap?

The top universities in USA receive federal funding from the US government. The 15% cap proposal by the Trump administration has stated that if the universities accept the proposal, then they will gain preferences in terms of US government funding and grants. The universities that have been sent the proposal are:

These universities already receive huge sums of federal funding from the US government. The data is as follows:

  • MIT gets about 45% of its $4.8 billion budget from federal sources.

  • Penn and Vanderbilt get around $1 billion–$1.3 billion (50–70% of their budgets) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), and Department of Defense (DoD).

  • Brown and Dartmouth receive approximately 60–70% of federal funding, while the University of Texas, the University of Virginia and the University of Arizona get around 45–60%.

  • University of Southern California gets about 55%.

Impact of the 15% cap proposal on Indian students

Indian students represent the largest group of international students in the USA, followed by Chinese students. If US colleges accept the Trump administration's proposal to implement the 15% cap on international enrollments, this could limit opportunities for many Indian students looking to study in USA.

The latest data from Open Doors 2024 suggested that India has become one of the largest international groups in USA because of the graduate programs and Optional Practical Training (OPT), rather than undergraduate students. As the 15% cap is on the undergraduate enrollment, the impact might vary. According to the IIE press release, the total number of Indian students for the academic year 2023-2024 is around 331,602. This includes 196,567 graduate students and 97,556 on OPT, while undergraduate students are around 36,053. This also means that about 60% of Indian students in the USA are studying graduate courses, almost 30% are on OPT, and only about 10% are studying undergraduate courses. This means that even if every university accepts the proposed policy, it will not heavily affect Indian students, as only around 10% of Indian students are studying undergraduate courses in USA.


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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: Does the cap apply to graduate or postgraduate students too?
A:

Currently, the 15% cap applies only to the undergraduate international students aiming to study in USA. It is not implemented for graduate or OPT trainees.

Q: How many Indian students study in the US currently?
A:

According to the 2024 data from the US Department of Homeland Security’s Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), over 270,000 Indian students were studying in the US, making up about 28% of all international students.

Q: Is the 15% cap officially implemented across all US colleges?
A:

No, the 15% cap is not officially implemented. It is just a proposal sent by the Trump administration to nine universities in the USA. If accepted by the universities, they might benefit from federal funding.

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