Xiaofeng Wan, a former admissions officer at Amherst College, now works as a private consultant to international students who want to come to the United States. This week, as he held meetings in China with prospective students, he sensed a deep uncertainty among their parents.

万晓峰（音）曾在阿默斯特学院担任招生官，现在是为有意来美国读书的国际学生服务的私人顾问。本周，他在中国和可能赴美的学生会面时，察觉到家长当中弥漫着深深的迷茫。

“They really don’t know whether they should send their children to a country where they don’t welcome Chinese students or they see China as a hostile competitor,” Dr. Wan said by telephone from Beijing. “It’s an unprecedented situation that we’ve never seen before.”

“他们真的不知道是否应该把孩子送到一个不欢迎中国学生，或把中国视为敌对竞争对手的国家去，”万博士在北京接受电话采访时说。“这是一种前所未有的局面，我们以前从未看到过。”

For years, American colleges and universities have attracted growing numbers of international students who often pay full tuition, effectively subsidizing domestic students.

多年来，美国的高等学府吸引了越来越多的国际学生就读，他们通常支付全额学费，这实际上是在为美国本土学生提供补贴。

But the Trump administration’s recent move to deport hundreds of students here on visas, and his trade war with China, have stoked fears that the United States is no longer a welcoming place for international students. This week, the administration also asked Harvard to hand over lists of foreign students, adding to a sense of panic on campuses.

但特朗普政府最近驱逐数百名持有效签证的学生的做法，以及与中国的贸易战，引发了对美国不再欢迎国际学生的担忧。特朗普政府还在本周要求哈佛大学提交外国学生名单，从而加剧了大学校园里的恐慌情绪。

Suzanne Ortega, president of the Council of Graduate Schools, said the chaos of visa terminations had fueled concerns among many students. “I think it sends a powerful signal to friends and family at home that the U.S. is not a safe place to be anymore,” she said.

美国研究生院理事会主席苏珊娜·奥尔特加表示，吊销签证引发的混乱加剧了许多学生的担忧。“我觉得这向这些学生在国内的亲朋好友发出了一个强烈信号：美国不再是一个安全的地方，”她说。

If the nation gains a reputation for being hostile to international students, it could be devastating for many American colleges and universities.

如果美国落得对国际学生不友好的名声，对许多美国高校来说，这可能会带来毁灭性影响。

There were more than 1.1 million international students in the United States during the 2023-24 academic year, according to a recent report released by the Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the Institute of International Education. The number includes students who remain in the country briefly after graduation to gain work experience.

据美国国务院的教育与文化事务局以及国际教育协会最近发布的一份报告，2023-24学年在美国的国际学生人数超过110万名。这个数字也包括毕业后为积累工作经验，短期留在美国的学生。

The report identifies New York University, Northeastern University and Columbia University as the three largest host schools for international students. At N.Y.U., their enrollment has increased nearly 250 percent over the last decade.

该报告发现纽约大学、东北大学、哥伦比亚大学是接收国际学生最多的三所大学。纽约大学的国际学生人数在过去十年里增长了近250%。

Losing foreign students could also be bad for the broader economy, experts say. International students pumped nearly $44 billion into the American economy and generated 378,000 jobs last year alone, according to NAFSA: Association of International Educators, which promotes international education.

专家称，失去国际学生也可能给整体经济带来不利影响。据致力于推广国际教育的国际教育工作者协会称，仅去年一年，国际学生就为美国经济注入了近440亿美元，并创造了37.8万个就业岗位。

Moody’s, the bond rating agency, downgraded the higher education outlook to “negative” last month, citing federal policy changes as a threat.

债券评级机构穆迪上个月将美国高等教育前景的评级下调为“负面”，理由是联邦政策变化带来的威胁。

The Trump administration has said that it is targeting international students who have broken the law or pose a threat to its foreign policy interests.

特朗普政府表示，政府的打击目标是那些违法或对美国外交政策利益构成威胁的国际学生。

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has argued that “no one has a right to a visa.” In remarks last month, he said that in giving and revoking visas, “we’re going to err on the side of caution.”

国务卿马可·鲁比奥曾公开主张“没有人天然享有获得签证的权利”。他上个月表示，在发放和吊销签证时，“我们将谨慎行事”。

“We are not going to be importing activists into the United States,” he added. “They’re here to study. They’re here to go to class. They’re not here to lead activist movements that are disruptive and undermine the — our universities. I think it’s lunacy to continue to allow that.”

“我们不会把活动人士引入美国，”他还说。“他们是来学习的。他们是来上课的。他们不是来领导那些破坏和损害我们大学的激进运动的。我认为继续允许这样的行为是疯狂的。”

International student enrollment had been on an upward trajectory for decades. Gaurav Khanna, an economist at the University of California, San Diego, who has studied foreign students, said the revenue they bring in helped some public universities weather the Great Recession.

国际学生的入学人数几十年来一直呈上升趋势。加州大学圣地亚哥分校研究外国留学生的经济学家高拉夫·卡纳说，他们带来的收入帮助一些公立大学度过了经济大衰退。

Dr. Khanna’s research found schools that could attract students from abroad were often able to avoid raising in-state tuition for domestic students and major research and instructional cuts.

卡纳的研究发现，能够吸引外国学生的学校通常能够避免提高国内生源的州内学费，并避免削减主要的研究和教学经费。

“To keep doors open for local students, you need to let in more international students,” he said.

他说：“为了向本土学生敞开大门，你需要让更多的国际学生进来。”

Beyond the economic effects, leaders in higher education worry that decreases in international enrollment will deter the world’s top minds from coming to the United States. International students accounted for nearly 6 percent of the total higher education population in the United States, according to the I.I.E. report.

除了经济影响之外，高等教育的领导者们还担心，国际招生人数的减少会阻止世界顶尖人才来美国发展。国际教育协会的报告显示，国际学生占美国受高等教育总人数的近6%。

At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where more than one in four students hail from abroad, the president, Sally Kornbluth, said on Monday that the university would be “gravely diminished without the students and scholars who join us from other nations.”

在麻省理工学院，超过四分之一的学生来自国外，该校校长莎莉·科恩布鲁斯周一表示，“如果没有来自其他国家的学生和学者加入我们，学校的实力将会严重影响”。

“The threat of unexpected visa revocations will make it less likely that top talent from around the world will come to the U.S.,” Dr. Kornbluth said in a message to campus. “That will damage American competitiveness and scientific leadership for years to come.”

“签证意外被吊销的威胁将使世界各地的顶尖人才前来美国的可能性降低，”科恩布鲁斯在发给全校师生的公开信中说。“这将在未来几年损害美国的竞争力和科学领导地位。”

Chris R. Glass, a professor at Boston College who studies international enrollment, estimates that 50,000 to 75,000 international graduate students in science and technology fields could be affected by federal grant cuts.

波士顿学院研究国际招生的教授克里斯·格拉斯估计，可能会有5万至7.5万名科学和技术领域的国际研究生受到联邦削减拨款的影响。

Overall, he said the number of international students could fall below 1 million for the first time since the 2014-15 academic year.

他表示，总体而言，国际学生人数可能会自2014-15学年以来首次降至100万以下。

An analysis by The New York Times found that the Trump administration has canceled more than 1,500 visas at 222 schools nationwide. Immigration agents have also sought to detain and deport a number of students and researchers.

《纽约时报》的一项分析发现，特朗普政府已取消了全国222所学校的1500多张签证。移民机构还试图拘留和驱逐一些学生和研究人员。

Some of the visa revocations appear to be related to legal infractions in students’ pasts, a few are related to activism, and in some cases students do not know why they have lost their visas.

一些签证被吊销似乎与学生过去的违法行为有关，还有一些与激进行动有关，在某些情况下，学生也不知道自己为何失去了签证。

One international student from London, Patrick, who is 22, described a huge amount of fear among his fellow students. He asked that neither his last name nor his university in New York be identified for fear of repercussions.

来自伦敦的国际学生、22岁的帕特里克描述了同学们的巨大恐惧。他要求不要透露自己的姓氏和他在纽约的大学，以免受到影响。

He said that he had recently deleted all of his text messages because he was worried about surveillance when he re-entered the country. Still, he said, he plans to finish his senior year in the United States and stay for a year after graduation.

他说因为再次入境时遭受监控审查，他最近删除了所有的短信。不过，他说，他计划在美国读完大四，毕业后再留一年。

President Trump’s first term also brought a chill to international student enrollment. In 2017, Mr. Trump banned travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries, and many colleges reported dips in foreign applicants. A larger decline occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic.

特朗普总统的第一个任期也曾给国际学生入学带来恐惧感。2017年，特朗普禁止来自七个以穆斯林为主的国家的人入境，许多大学报告称，外国申请者减少了。在2019新冠病毒大流行期间，申请者下降幅度更大。

“Certain universities probably can weather the storm. But other universities don’t have the resources,” Dr. Khanna said. “If they get cut off from a lot of their funding and at the same time get cut off from revenue from international students, they’re in trouble.”

“有些大学也许能经受住这场风暴。但有些大学没有这样的资源，”卡纳说。“如果他们被切断了大量资金来源，同时又失去国际学生的收入，他们就有麻烦了。”

Many of the students arriving from outside the United States view their degrees as paths to employment in the country.

许多从国外来的学生把学位看作在美国就业的途径。

But as the Trump administration seeks to crack down on immigration, some students could be deterred over the anxiety that studying in the U.S. and joining the domestic labor force no longer “guarantees you the things you thought it did,” Mr. Khanna said.

但卡纳说，随着特朗普政府试图打击移民，一些学生可能会因为担心在美国学习并加入国内劳动力大军已不再能像以前那样“为你带来你所期望的那些东西”，从而对留学望而却步。

It was already a particularly perilous time for American schools, who are facing a decline in students as birthrates dip.

对于美国的学校来说，这已经是一个特别艰难的时期，由于出生率的下降，学校面临着学生人数的减少。

Recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics predicts that the annual number of graduating high school seniors, which peaked this year at more than 3.8 million, will decline to 3.5 million by 2032.

国家教育统计中心的最新数据预测，今年的高中毕业生人数将达到380多万的峰值，到2032年将下降到350万。

During President Trump’s first term, some American universities tried to persuade foreign students to come in spite of concerns about a hostile administration.

在特朗普总统的第一个任期内，一些美国大学曾试图说服外国学生不要担心充满敌意的政府，前来美国就读。

Now universities are scrambling to help the international students already enrolled who have been forced to leave.

现在，各大学都在争先恐后地帮助那些已经入学但被迫离开的国际学生。

After the State Department canceled the visas of 40 students and recent graduates of Northeastern University in Boston, the school said that it would offer some of those students remote learning opportunities or transfers to its international campuses.

在国务院取消了波士顿东北大学40名学生和应届毕业生的签证后，该校表示，将为其中一些学生提供远程学习的机会，或者转到该校的国际校区学习。

Dr. Khanna said it wasn’t clear what might happen long term, this time. “There’s a question of ‘will the U.S. lose this comparative advantage?’”

卡纳博士说，目前还不清楚这一次从长远来看会怎样。“问题在于，‘美国会失去这种比较优势吗？’”