How international student declines could impact the bottom line for Pittsburgh colleges

Threats to Chinese student visas, travels bans and more moves from the Trump administration could impact enrollment.

Graduate programs would be more acutely affected. At nearly every university in the Pittsburgh region, international students make up a larger share of the schools’ graduate programs than their undergraduate ones.

At CMU, a majority of graduate students — 62% — are foreign. International students make up more than a third of the graduate populations at Gannon (44%), Penn State (43%) and Robert Morris (38%), while Pitt’s graduate enrollment is 22% international.

These students are important for graduate programs because they are “key instructors” in fields such as foreign language and STEM, said Kelley Karnes, spokeswoman for the nonprofit Council of Graduate Schools. They are also vital in creating international collaborations that allow domestic and foreign students to research global issues together, she said.