A federal ban on new visas would uproot 6,800 scholars – and threaten a quarter-billion-dollar revenue stream. 

The Trump administration has stepped up its feud with Harvard University in recent days. 

What began as a student-led lawsuit to combat antisemitism has escalated into a standoff that now threatens the university’s ability to host international students. 

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After Harvard rejected the government’s demands to reform its admissions processes, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) revoked the university’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification.  

If a federal judge allows DHS to go through with it, Harvard will no longer be allowed to enroll international students, and existing international students would have to transfer.  

Here’s what that means, in context:   

6,793 

In the 2024-2025 academic year, Harvard enrolled nearly 6,800 international students. That’s 27% of the entire student body, much higher than the national average of 6%.  

One of those 6,793 is Princess Elisabeth, the future Queen of Belgium. She is currently completing a master’s degree in public policy. 

0.6% 

There were over 1.1 million international students in the U.S. this year, an all-time high. Only 0.6% were enrolled at Harvard.  

147 

Harvard’s international students come from 147 different countries. China is the number one producer of Harvard’s international students by a large margin, with 1,378. Canada (773), India (505), South Korea (399), and the UK (342) are the other top sources. 

$250 million  

Based on some back-of-the-envelope math, international students contributed about a quarter billion dollars to Harvard this year. That’s 4% of the university’s total revenue. 

Harvard doesn’t report this figure directly, but we do know that tuition and room and board costs about $79,500. We also know that Harvard provides need-based financial aid to international students at the same rate as they do domestic students, which means 55% receive some aid and 25% pay nothing at all.  

Multiply all that by the school’s 6,793 international students and you get $250 million, give or take.  

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