How do international students plan to fund their educations?

According to the most recent Open Doors report , the number of international students enrolled in the United States has increased steadily since 2006. The number of new international students enrolling for the first time jumped 6.5 percent between the 2010/11 and 2011/12 academic years. With a growing market abroad, many institutions may look to expand their international recruitment, especially as the number of prospective domestic students levels off or declines.

Noel-Levitz and CollegeWeekLive surveyed nearly 2,000 prospective international students during spring 2013, examining their expectations and attitudes toward researching potential American colleges. The findings show that international students are primarily concerned about funding and see aid from U.S. campuses as their top resource for paying for college.

The graph above shows that 70 percent of respondents listed aid and scholarships as their top method of funding their educations. While nearly 60 percent also listed personal or family contributions, only 28 percent expected funding from their own governments or universities.

In addition, when asked about their concerns when studying abroad, funding was by far the dominant issue:

More than half listed funding, greater than every other top concern combined. Taken together, these results suggest that American campuses will have to address financial need and expectations of international students if they hope to enroll them.

The full report, Recruiting Abroad: Understanding the Expectations and Behaviors of Prospective International Students, will be available by early June. To be notified by e-mail when new Noel-Levitz reports are available, subscribe to receive updates from us.