International Share of WashU Graduate Enrollment Falls to 38.2% as Master's Programs Shrink
Enrollment data from the Office of the University Registrar at Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) in Missouri show that international students accounted for 38.2% of the university's total graduate population by the 10th week of fall 2026, down from 46.3% in fall 2023, with the decline felt most strongly in master's degree programs.
Master's enrollment has fallen across nearly every school. In the McKelvey School of Engineering, total master's enrollment dropped to 675 students in fall 2026 from 1,057 in fall 2022, and Dean Aaron Bobick estimated the downturn represents a 20% to 25% reduction in master's tuition flowing into the school's operating budget. The Olin Business School saw master's enrollment fall to 1,382 from 1,988 in fall 2022; the College of Arts & Sciences fell to 107 master's students from 173 in fall 2024; and the Brown School recorded 257, down from 460 in fall 2022. Total enrollment at the School of Law is 1,036, compared with 1,223 in fall 2022.
Doctoral programs moved the other way: the College of Arts & Sciences enrolled 779 doctoral students, up from 702 in fall 2022, McKelvey rose to 604 from 509, and the School of Medicine grew overall enrollment by 61% to 1,909. International undergraduate enrollment also rose, to 11.2% from 10.4% in fall 2025 and 8% in fall 2022.
Joseph Jez, vice dean of graduate studies in the College of Arts & Sciences, noted that completed applications fell and deferrals rose due to visa hurdles, while applicant caliber remained high. Feng Sheng Hu, dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, who came to the U.S. as an international student in 1987, wrote that the challenges and uncertainties facing international students will have broad, negative effects extending far beyond university enrollment and finances, and that continued declines would hurt the intellectual vitality of the academic community.
The university is responding: WashU Global has launched several investments to attract and support international students, the Brown School's commitment of over $9 million in funding for its master's program in social work led to a 29% enrollment increase from 2025 to 2026, and McKelvey has added information sessions, waived application fees, sent faculty to universities abroad, and strengthened joint degree programs. "The days when we could just sort of hang out a shingle and people would just show up — those days are gone," Bobick said. "Now we have to be more intentional about attracting students."
Source: Washington University in St. Louis
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：圣路易斯华盛顿大学 Anheuser Busch Hall（法学院所在地）。摄影 Kitz000（Matt Kitces），CC BY-SA 3.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Anheuser Busch Hall, home to the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis. By Kitz000 (Matt Kitces), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
