Can Small Colleges Survive Without International Students?

Visa restrictions, discount rates, and the looming threat to America’s small colleges

As someone who sat in the VPSA chair during Mount Ida College’s final, and somewhat wrenching days in 2018, I know firsthand the complex forces that can push an institution to the brink. In the years since, the landscape has only grown more treacherous for small colleges—and now, a new set of risk factors is accelerating the pace of closures in ways many still underestimate.

Let’s talk about the convergence of three specific vulnerabilities:

• Small size (under 5,000 FTE students)

• High tuition discount rates (over 55%)

• Heavy reliance on international students (25% or more of enrollment)

Each of these factors alone can strain a college’s finances and future, but together, they create a perfect storm, impossible to navigate successfully.