{"id":221324,"date":"2026-02-20T15:55:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T21:55:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/?p=221324"},"modified":"2026-02-20T15:55:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T21:55:15","slug":"university-north-texas-shortfall-international-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2026\/02\/20\/university-north-texas-shortfall-international-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Decline in international students at UNT leads to $45 million budget shortfall, likely cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The University of North Texas is weighing program consolidations, higher teaching loads and a voluntary separation program for faculty as it confronts a projected $45 million budget deficit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Harrison Keller told the Denton campus this week that the gap had grown from $31.2 million from last August, driven by a sharper-than-expected drop in international graduate student enrollment and reduced state funding tied to enrollment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe principal concern is that this is a structural deficit. This isn\u2019t a temporary deficit, so we need to get in front of it,\u201d Keller said in an interview Friday with The Texas Tribune.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

University officials said international graduate enrollment fell from about 6,200 students in fall 2024 to just under 3,400 in fall 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keller told the Tribune that the university has not decided which departments could be affected and does not have a target number of faculty for a voluntary separation program. He said the university plans to make more detailed announcements before spring registration opens in early March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a message to the campus Friday, he said that in addition to the cutbacks, UNT plans to grow its enrollment by expanding online and professional programs and by strengthening transfer pipelines with community colleges, though those steps will take time to bring in revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keller told the Tribune that the budget situation does not change the university\u2019s recently announced program<\/a> that will cover full tuition and mandatory fees for incoming freshmen from Texas families earning $100,000 or less starting in fall 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

International students typically pay significantly higher tuition than Texas residents, making their decline especially costly for public universities, whose state funding partly depends on enrollment levels. Keller said the funding formula resulted in about $32 million less state support this biennium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a board of regents meeting<\/a> Thursday, Keller addressed the university\u2019s reliance on international students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnlike at some other Texas universities, at UNT, our international students do not displace qualified Texas residents,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keller said a group is meeting weekly to evaluate ways to stabilize the budget for this year and the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UNT System Chancellor Michael Williams also sought to reassure the board and the public but acknowledged, \u201cthere is no single lever we can pull and no shortcut that avoids hard decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an August interview with the Tribune, Keller said some positions had already been left vacant as enrollment declined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keller also said replacing lost international tuition is difficult because \u201cfor every full pay, out-of-state student that you lose, you have to enroll more than two resident students to make up for it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keller also said he hoped lawmakers in 2027 will consider tying dollars for universities to outcomes like graduation and workforce results instead of counting semester credit hours. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur current university funding formulas are antiquated,\u201d he said. \u201cWe would hope that the Legislature in this next session might consider better aligning the incentives and the funding system with what we need universities to achieve for our communities, for our region, for our state.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Texas adopted<\/a> a similar outcomes-based funding model for community colleges in 2023, awarding money for credentials and transfers rather than enrollment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

International students have faced more scrutiny<\/a> under the Trump administration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, hundreds of international students at Texas universities had their legal status abruptly terminated in a federal immigration database before the government reversed course weeks later. Administration officials said they were aiming for students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests or posed national security concerns, though attorneys for many of the affected students said their clients had not engaged in such activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, the federal government has expanded travel restrictions<\/a> and begun closely reviewing applications from dozens of countries, which advocates say has left many students unsure if they can safely choose to attend college in the U.S. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Texas hosts one of the largest international student populations in the country, and UNT has historically enrolled more of them than any other university in the state, according to federal data<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The university has reported<\/a> that most of its international students are graduate students from India or other countries in Asia, with most studying engineering, business and technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number of international students fell about 11% statewide from 2024 to 2025, according to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UNT\u2019s roughly 35% drop in total international student enrollment was among the steeper declines reported by public universities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Texas Tribune partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disclosure: University of North Texas has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete\u00a0list of them here<\/a>.<\/em>
<\/p>\n\n\n

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