Here's what will happen if they do that:
A large number of universities will go under without tuition fees from international students.
Professors will leave these universities to pursue industry careers, soneven if the job market recovers the universities won't.
Without competent specialized people from the universities, US will lose the tech edge very very quickly. Cutting edge tech requires a large number of people willing to slog through several years of training.
And I highly doubt the kind of universities that rely on tuition revenues from foreign students are ones leading the US's tech edge. The universities that actually matter in this regard will be well-equipped to survive a small setback of less foreign admissions.
I think you would see the opposite. You would incentivize going to grad school for a few years under a student visa. Universities could name their price.
> You would incentivize going to grad school for a few years under a student visa.
That's a significant change in immigration policy that's not covered in 'pause H1B'. I agree in principle that if you align the incentives like this, it would work out.