What International Students Need to Know about the Big Beautiful Bill

The One Big Beautiful Bill is now a law. Here’s how it might impact higher education and what international students need to know.

📌 Key Takeaways

On 4 July 2025, President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill into law. The legislation implements wide-ranging social and economic changes, including some that could impact international students.

Last Friday, the Trump Administration signed H.R. 1, commonly known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), into law. The bill forms the basis for President Trump’s agenda for his second term and contains wide-reaching tax and spending changes. While the bulk of the bill’s content applies to domestic tax, social services, and spending, there are specific provisions that will have a direct impact on higher education and on international students who are or will be studying in the USA.

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How OBBBA impacts higher education

Among the numerous provisions in the OBBBA are two sections that directly apply to the funding for higher education in the USA. These include provisions related to student loan borrowing and the taxation of higher education institutions.

Student loan changes

Several provisions outline changes to student loan structuring and financing, including capping the amount graduate students and students seeking professional degrees can borrow, setting a lifetime limit of $257,000 on all student borrowers, and restructuring income-based repayment programs. The provision also pauses a Biden-administration rule canceling the debt of students whose schools recruited using deceptive practices.

Most of the provisions regarding student loans shouldn’t have a direct impact on international students, who are usually ineligible for federal student financial aid. However, some higher education and financial aid experts worry that despite Republican claims that the bill aims to force US higher education institutions to lower tuition costs, it could have the opposite effect if caps on loans deter students from applying and schools raise tuition to account for lower enrollments.

Taxation on college endowments

This scenario is even more likely at schools hit by the other provision, which levies increased taxation of at least 1.4 percent on institutions with more than 3,000 students and yearly endowments of $500,000 or more per student. While this provision is estimated to bring in more than $760 million in taxes for the federal government over the next ten years, it could see tuition increase at hundreds, if not thousands, of schools whose budgets would be hit by the tax increases.

This provision could also negatively impact international students. Although international students are typically ineligible for federal student loans, they can still seek financial aid directly through their host institution, and many schools use endowments to fund financial aid for students, including those from overseas.

For example, Harvard University, one of the institutions estimated to be hit the hardest by this provision, meets 100 percent of financial need for its students, including international students, using its endowment valued at approximately $1.775 million per student. Increased taxes could lead to lower resources for financial aid at Harvard and other schools hit by the increased taxation.

Additionally, the bill includes tax exemptions for schools with fewer than 3,000 students if at least 50 percent of those enrollments are domestic students. This means that small colleges and universities might be less inclined to recruit international students to their programs.

Immigration and visa changes

Despite the ongoing issues surrounding international student visas and attempts to limit international student enrollments at certain US institutions, the OBBBA doesn’t directly address international student recruitment or enrollment. However, two provisions could have an impact on international students.

Spending on border security and ICE

The OBBBA includes a large provision allotting a $170 billion increase in spending on border security, as well as an immediate $10 billion increase in funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Among other stipulations, this increased funding will go to hiring an additional 10,000 new ICE officers as well as 3,000 new border patrol agents, allowing the US to expand its capacity for surveilling and monitoring people entering the US, including international students.

Increase in visa application fees

The OBBBA also includes a small provision that increases the DS-160 (non-immigrant visa) fee from $185 to $250. To apply for a student visa, international students must pay the DS-160 application fee as well as the fee for the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), which currently stands at $350. The OBBBA increase to the DS-160 fee means that applying for a student visa to the USA will now cost $600, not including fees for translation or courier services.

What’s next?

Despite the OBBBA being universally opposed by the Senate Democrats, the bill narrowly passed the Senate on 1 July 2025 and Congress on 3 July 2025. It was signed into law on 4 July by President Trump. While some of the provisions are already in effect, others will be delayed until 2026, like the provision capping student loan borrowing limits. For the majority of US citizens, most of the impact of this bill will likely be delayed until the end of the fiscal year or even later.

It’s unclear how quickly the changes to student loans, college endowment taxes, and increased national security spending will impact international students, if at all. Still, the bill isn’t the only piece of US legislation that has direct or potential impacts on international students, and colleges and universities are already reporting decreases in international enrollments for the 2025-2026 academic year.

The pause in student visa processing in June had a major impact on international student enrollments, with NAFSA: Association of International Educators reporting that 76 percent of US higher education institutions were anticipating a decrease in international enrollments for the 2025-2026 period. It also noted that 40 percent of schools reported that they had students who indicated that they would not choose the US as a study destination, and that three of the biggest sources of international students to the US – India, China, and Nigeria – were reporting the largest number of visa appointment cancellations.

According to the Association of American Universities (AAU), the US hosted 1.1 million international students who contributed $43.8 billion to the US economy during the 2023-2024 academic year. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the OBBBA will “decrease revenues by roughly $20 billion” and “increase deficits over the 2025-2034 period by $3.4 trillion.”