evidence: Colleges and universities in the United States attract more than a million international students a year. Higher education is one of America’s top service exports, generating $42 billion in revenue. But the money spigot is closing. The pandemic, visa restrictions, rising tuition and a perception of poor safety in America have driven new international student enrollment down by a jaw-dropping 72 percent. [...] Higher education has become one of the United States’ largest service exports, equal to annual exports of soybeans, corn, and textile supplies combined. From 2006, when enrollments from abroad began to climb, to their all-time high, of nearly 1.1 million in 2018, the number of international students in America more than doubled. [...] Those stopgap measures helped cushion the blow — somewhat. In 2020 the export value of higher education fell by $9.5 billion, a 20-percent drop.