International enrollments surpass a pre-Covid high
The number of international students in the United States hit an all-time high in the 2023-24 academic year, but the driver of the growth wasn’t new students coming to campus. Instead, the increase was fueled by recent graduates staying in the country to work.
The annual Open Doors census, released today, tallied 1,126,690 foreign students, driven by a 22-percent surge in participants in optional practical training, or OPT. Enrollments of new students, however, rose just 0.1 percent.
The previous high, 1,095,299, was in 2018-19.
Overall, overseas enrollments climbed by 7 percent, according to the report, which is published by the Institute of International Education and the U.S. Department of State. The number of students on OPT and the number of international graduate students also hit new records.
The two are interrelated, said Mirka Martel, head of research, evaluation, and learning for the institute, which is also known as IIE. The “seismic rise” in graduate study since the pandemic — and specifically in one- to two-year master’s programs — has led to a spike in eligibility for OPT, which allows foreign students to work in the United States for up to three years after they earn their degrees.
Those taking part in OPT count in international-enrollment totals because they remain on student visas and because the work program is “an essential component of their education,” Martel said.
International Students Participating in Optional Practical Training Soar
Graduate enrollments grew by 8 percent in 2023-24, a more-modest increase than in the two prior years. The number of foreign graduate students soared by 21 percent in 2022-23 and 17 percent in 2021-22. Moderating growth is commonplace after a wave of new students — what matters is that their numbers stabilize at higher levels, Martel said.
The number of undergraduate students from abroad declined slightly in 2023-24, by about 1 percent. Twelve percent fewer international students were enrolled in English-language instruction and other nondegree study.
Perhaps more concerning are the anemic gains in new students. First-time enrollments increased 14 percent in 2022-23 and 80 percent in 2021-22, when borders reopened after Covid-related travel restrictions. The recent data may reflect that American colleges may have “finally cycled through” pent-up demand post-pandemic, Martel said.
Allan Goodman, IIE’s chief executive, said he was bullish about future enrollments for several reasons. The other three major destinations for international students, Australia, Britain, and Canada, have or are considering new restrictions on student visas. Countries like India, the top source of foreign students in the United States, don’t have enough universities to educate their booming youth populations. And the looming demographic cliff is spurring American colleges to look for new pockets of students.
The United States uniquely has the capacity to take in larger numbers of foreign students, Goodman said. Here, they are just 6 percent of the total higher-education population, while they account for 27 percent of all students in Britain, 31 percent in Australia, and 38 percent in Canada. Backlash to the growing share of students from abroad, in fact, led to some of the caps in these other countries.
“We’ve never had this kind of perfect storm,” Goodman said. “There’s only one boat — one country — ready to take them on.” The United States has nearly double the number of colleges of the other three countries combined.
Despite Goodman’s favorable forecast, this fall’s visa data paints a more worrisome picture. A Chronicle analysis found that 12.5 percent fewer American student visas were issued worldwide during the critical months of May to August. The number of visas awarded to students in India declined by a third.
A snapshot survey of 690 colleges by IIE and 10 other higher-education groups also found a 5-percent drop in new enrollments of international students this fall. (Open Doors, which collects data from nearly 3,000 institutions, reflects the previous year’s trends.)
The decrease in visa issuances does not necessarily mean that student interest in studying in the United States has declined — some college officials told The Chronicle that there had been an uptick in visa denials by American consulates.
It’s a reminder that multiple factors affect international enrollments. Politics is another variable: There are concerns that the reelection of Donald J. Trump to the presidency, for instance, could lead to efforts to curtail or eliminate OPT.
International students contributed $43.8 billion to the U.S. economy in the 2023-24 academic year and supported more than 378,000 jobs, according to estimates by NAFSA: Association of International Educators. This figure, too, is a high-water mark. International-student spending in 12 states was $1 billion or more.