US draws fewer new foreign students for 3rd straight year, report finds

WASHINGTON - The number of foreign students enrolling in US colleges and universities continued to fall last year, according to a new report, but the administration of US President Donald Trump blamed the drop on high tuition costs.

An annual report from the Institute of International Education found that the number of newly enrolled international students dipped by 1 percent in fall 2018 compared to the year before. It follows decreases of 7 percent and 3 percent in the previous two years. Those were the first downturns in more than a decade.

The drop is a worry for universities that have come to rely on tuition from foreign students, who typically pay higher rates. Some schools have blamed Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric for driving students away, but officials at the US State Department, which pays for the annual report, dismissed the idea.