Jan 22, 2026
Beyond his role on Shark Tank, Kevin O’Leary is known for his enthusiastic support of the U.S. President Donald Trump’s economic agenda. But when it comes to student visas, the multimillionaire investor breaks sharply with the commander-in-chief.
“When we talked about cutting off access to our institutions for foreign students, I thought that was an insane idea,” he said on Fox Business's The Big Money Show last month during a conversation about the worth of college degrees in the time of artificial intelligence (1).
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“Because if we don’t take them the Chinese are going to take them … I am vehemently against this idea that we’re going to just not give visas to some genius in wherever, to come over here to MIT or Harvard.”
His comments about this “curated” group of students highlight the stark divide in views on immigration between many business leaders and political leadership.
Trump’s crackdown on legal immigration
Although much of his campaign focused on illegal immigration, Trump has since broadened his enforcement efforts to include legal immigration pathways as well.
Last year, the administration attempted to stop Harvard University from enrolling foreign students citing national security concerns. This plan was stopped by a federal judge. It also signed an agreement with Columbia University that includes a provision to “decrease financial dependence on international student enrollment.”
Trump seemed especially angry at the high proportion of international students at Harvard. “I think they should have a cap of maybe around 15 %,” he said in May, according to The New York Times (2). “We have people who want to go to Harvard and other schools, they can’t get in because we have foreign students there. But I want to make sure that the foreign students are people that can love our country.”
In August 2025, the Department of Homeland Security announced a proposed rule aimed at curbing what it described as “foreign student visa abuse,” including replacing the long-standing “duration of status” policy with fixed time limits for student and exchange visitor visas.
As of fall 2025, U.S. colleges and universities reported a 1% dip in the total number of international students, including those already enrolled and graduates staying on.
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However, that number only tells part of the story. New international student enrollments plunged 17% from the year before, according to the Institute of International Education (IIE) (3). This shift could start to weigh more heavily on campuses in the years ahead.
As O’Leary points out, shutting the door to young talent from overseas could have significant economic and strategic consequences.
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Far-reaching impacts
The economic impact of foreign students is both immense and well documented.
In the most recent academic year (2024-25), international students contributed $42.9 billion to the U.S. economy and supported more than 355,000 jobs, according to NAFSA: Association of International Educators (4).
Tuition, housing, and living expenses are typically funded from non-U.S. sources, making international education a significant export sector for the national economy.
And the contributions continue well after graduation. According to an analysis of Crunchbase data by researchers at the University of California, Davis, every additional 150 international students in a graduating cohort was associated with one additional startup created within five years of graduation (5). That effect is up to nine times larger than that of the U.S.-born student enrollment.
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“When you curate the best of the best in every discipline and you bring them to American colleges, they get indoctrinated into American society [and] they want to stay here,” O’Leary told Fox Business. “We did it for decades and we’re a very successful economy.”
Born in Canada, O’Leary has built much of his business career in the U.S. offering a high-profile example of how immigrants can start companies, grow the economy, and integrate into American culture.
Unfortunately, turning this talent away could have real economic consequences for ordinary American families and communities.
How this could impact you
Since foreign students are ineligible for federal aid and often pay full tuition, they have an outsized impact on university finances, according to analysis by the Brookings Institute (6).
In California, for instance, full-time non-resident students are expected to pay about $36,000 more per year in total tuition than in-state students, according to CalMatters (7).
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Valerie Lundy-Wagner, associate director of the Public Policy Institute of California’s Higher Education Center, told CalMatters this additional revenue helps fund aid programs for domestic students, effectively lowering costs for some Americans.
If this revenue is jeopardized, universities may be forced to cut programs or raise tuition for local students. Lundy-Wagner has noted that the University of California and California State University systems could partially offset lost revenue by recruiting more out-of-state students.
Simply put, if you’re saving for your child’s college education, you may need to save more aggressively and prepare for potentially higher costs in the future.
Lower foreign student enrollment could also ripple through local economies, particularly in college towns. In Massachusetts, international students contribute an estimated $554 per resident to the state economy, according to the Brookings Institute. A sharp drop in foreign enrollment at major institutions such as MIT could have a noticeable economic impact.
If your town or business depends heavily on college students, it may be wise to prepare for a direct financial hit.
Article sources
We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our editorial ethics and guidelines.
Fox Business/YouTube (1); The New York Times (2); Institute of International Education (IIE) (3); NAFSA: Association of International Educators (4); University of California, Davis (5); Brookings Institute (6); CalMatters (7)
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Vishesh Raisinghani is a financial journalist covering personal finance, investing and the global economy. He's also the founder of Sharpe Ascension Inc., a content marketing agency focused on investment firms. His work has appeared in Moneywise, Yahoo Finance!, Motley Fool, Seeking Alpha, Mergers & Acquisitions Magazine and Piggybank.
