Columbia pauses journalism MA admissions amid visa concerns

Columbia Journalism School is pausing admissions to its Master of Arts programme for the coming cycle while it reviews the degree. Current MA students can complete their course, and its Journalism and Data Journalism Master of Science programmes are continuing. Dean Jelani Cobb told Reuters the pause was planned to last a year. [1] [2] [3]

Cobb said visa issues were one consideration, alongside changes to the programme. He also described plans for a new fundraising strategy and a possible part-time option. Four people familiar with the matter told Reuters that visa difficulties and uncertainty had deterred applicants from abroad, and that international applications had fallen sharply. They gave no figure or comparison period. Their estimate that international students make up roughly half of enrolment refers to the MA, not the journalism school as a whole. [3]

The school’s overall enrolment was already falling before the disruption to student-visa appointments in 2025: its headcount dropped from 306 in autumn 2023 to 284 in 2024, then reached 252 in 2025. Those totals do not separate international students from other students. Columbia counted 13,729 enrolled international students across the university in autumn 2025, but that figure alone cannot show whether their numbers changed in 2026. [4] [5] [3]