Foreign Attorney Enrollment at U.S. Law Schools To Plummet

After the latest restrictions imposed by the the Trump administration, the first statistics indicate a drop in foreign attorney enrollment at U.S. law schools. It comes on the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic, which was already projected to reduce international student enrollment by up to 25%. Reducing international enrollment may end up hurting American students instead.

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With dozen of globally-ranked law schools, the United States is a top destination for foreign students and attorneys looking for LL.M. degree. American universities are usually happy to welcome them, since they fork over tuition well in excess of what domestic students pay. It has been reported that a collapse in international student enrollment may be devastating for the finances of some universities.

Unsurprisingly, universities looking for ways to finance rising expenditures have turned to foreign students. Schools initially added LL.M. programs in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis when the number of domestic students plummeted dramatically. In some way, the tuition of foreign students helped to fill the financial gap caused by smaller J.D. classes.

A drop in enrollment at U.S. law schools

The National Jurist reports that the amount of foreign attorney’s applying to LL.M. programs in the United States appears to be dropping.

“We expect some number of incoming students to defer to the spring or following fall semester due to the difficulty of securing visas at the moment,"

Assistant Dean at Fordham Law, Toni Jaeger-Fine said. Tweet

Many law schools were unable to share exact enrollment numbers, deferring to the numbers not being finalized yet, but most programs said they expect fewer LL.M. students or that the program was in-flux and the data requested was unavailable at this time.

In either case, foreign students have a positive impact on universities’ finances. But domestic students should also be sad to see them go. If the lack of foreign tuition dollars results in smaller university budgets, domestic students may suffer from fewer admissions or leaner financial aid packages. Overall, there’s greater reason to mourn rather than cheer the departure of international students from American universities. The Trump administration may want to consider this before it restricts foreign students’ ability to study and work in the United States.