Ahead of the new academic year, Stevens has laid off 45 staff members, with officials citing the Trump administration’s efforts to restrict the enrollment of international students and affecting research funding.
On June 9, President Farvardin announced the implementation of cost-cutting measures. Leading up to the layoffs, Farvardin and school officials carefully considered other possibilities to maintain the school’s finances. In The Stute’s email request for comment, Farvardin stated, “We spent the summer months analyzing our financial position, monitoring enrollment numbers, exploring alternatives, and consulting with leadership before concluding that workforce reductions were unavoidable.”
Staff were notified of the layoffs on August 19 and 20, less than two weeks before the start of the Fall 2025 semester. These layoffs are a result of the ongoing federal changes under the Trump administration that have placed more financial strains on U.S. higher education institutions. These challenges include the Trump administration’s efforts to limit the number of international students enrolled in U.S. colleges by targeting international students and student visas, discouraging many from considering U.S. colleges, reported CNN.
Stevens has a great population of international students who have significantly contributed to Stevens’ budget, including funding for research. As of Fall 2024, Stevens has a total student population of over 8,400, of which 4% are international undergraduate students and 58% are international graduate students. As they are ineligible for federal financial aid, the Institute of International Education found that more than 3/4 of international students fund their education themselves and pay the full tuition. In 2023, international students contributed over $172 million to Stevens’ budget, enough to support a total of 1,693 jobs as reported by NJ Advance Media, a data-driven marketing agency in New Jersey. In addition to jobs, since international students usually pay more to attend U.S. universities, this allows colleges to focus their financial aid on domestic students, “[offering] lower fees and more scholarship money to American students,” said Justin Gest, a professor at George Mason University for Patch News.
The policy changes towards international students attending colleges are among many that have been issued since President Donald Trump took office. Since then, Trump and his administration have had a strong focus on changing higher education, specifically to curb what Trump has referred to as a “woke” agenda. This has included reversing diversity, equity, and inclusion policies meant to assist historically disadvantaged populations, threatening to remove or freeze school funding, and even revoking a university’s ability to admit international students.
Within this administration’s oversight on higher education, international students who have had their student visas revoked were targeted for their participation in on-campus demonstrations, most notably pro-Palestinian protests, and even minor criminal violations such as traffic infractions, as reported by U.S. News. Harvard University is notably in conflict with the Trump administration for refusing to adhere to Trump’s policies. With the Department of Homeland Security withdrawing, “the university’s certification to host foreign students and issue paperwork for their visas,” U.S. News reported. These crackdowns have raised concerns regarding the restriction of free speech on college campuses and the overuse of federal administrative power exercised by President Trump to intervene.
Like many institutions across the U.S., Stevens is also navigating a challenging time resulting from changes in policies that will continue to affect international student enrollment and research funding. It is still unclear what the exact impact of these policies have or will have on Stevens and other institutions, but President Farvardin remains steadfast in preserving Stevens’ core purpose of education and research. “Our focus is on supporting all our students and maintaining the academic excellence that defines Stevens, regardless of policy changes,” says Farvardin. “International students are integral to Stevens’ community, and we’re closely monitoring policy developments that could impact them.”
