According to U.S. News & World Report, the United States enrolled a breaking-number of international college students during the 2013-2014 school year. Close to 1 million (886,052) international students attended U.S. undergraduate and graduate programs across the country.
The United States leads other countries in international student enrollment with students from overseas making up 4 percent of all university students in America. Since the year 2000, the number of international students in the U.S. has grown 72 percent with the majority being students from China and India. The increase during the 2013-2014 school year was largely attributed to undergraduate students from China. The number of Chinese students in relation to other international students in the U.S. has increased 31 percent. There has been a 21 percent increase in the number of students from Saudi Arabia due to a scholarship program funded by the Saudi government to send young people to study in the United States.
According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, international student spending added more than $27 billion to the U.S. economy in 2013, with most students (64 percent) paying for their education with personal or family funds.
The leading colleges to host international students in 2013-2014 were (in order): New York University (NYU), University of Southern California, University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign, and Columbia University. Each of these universities enrolled more than 10,000 international students during the school year.
Monroe France, assistant vice president for student diversity at NYU, stated in regards to international student enrollment, “One of the major benefits is that it really, truly shows the beautiful diversity that exists around the world. It provides an opportunity for our students to engage with people who are different from themselves and it creates a much more interesting campus community.”
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