Changes to international student visas have had a "really big impact" on a university which is offering voluntary severance to 500 staff, a higher education expert said.
The University of Northampton announced the scheme "with regret" in light of a predicted £19.3m deficit.
Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, said a "40-50% shortfall" in international students was "cutting into a very big part of what they [the University of Northampton] do and their market."
The institution also cited rising pension costs and repayments on its new Waterside campus as a reason for its financial situation.
In January, the government made changes to the law to prevent most international students bringing dependents with them.
Mr Hillman said about 40% of universities in the UK are expected to be in deficit this year.
He said: "They'll get through it, but it's tough. As a country, we really bounced back after Covid, and the numbers were really, really healthy.
"Governments have a right to change migration policies, and the government chose to do that, and it’s having a really big impact on institutions like Northampton."
The University of Northampton, which has about 12,000 students and moved to the £330m Waterside Campus near the town centre in 2018, will start repaying the capital sum it borrowed to build it next year.
Mr Hillman said the campus move was a risk but not an error of judgement.
"I'm a huge fan of it [Waterside Campus]," he said. "I visited the old campus, and it literally had buckets collecting rainwater coming through the roof, and the student experience there wasn’t good enough.
"When I asked one of the old leaders, they said it was an even bigger risk to stay on the old campus because people didn’t want to come and study there."
