Going Down?

From the LA Times: California remains the top U.S. destination for foreign students, who primarily come from China and India, with enrollment dipping slightly in the 2018-19 school year for the first time in at least a decade, according to a survey released Monday. Nationally, new enrollments of international students declined for the third year in a row although overall numbers are at a record high of nearly 1.1 million, according to a survey of 2,800 U.S. colleges and universities released by the Institute of International Education and the U.S. State Department.

The number of students from China, who account for one-third of all international students in the United States, increased by 1.7% while those from India grew by 2.9%.

Some university officials have questioned whether the Trump administration’s harder line on immigration and China is driving international students toward more welcoming environments in other countries.

But U.S. college costs are the single largest concern expressed by prospective foreign students and their families, Allan E. Goodman, the Institute of International Education’s president, said in a recent teleconference to preview the report. 

A 2017 survey by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development found that the average U.S. public college tuition was the highest among some 35 member nations surveyed — about $8,200 annually, more than twice as high as the average. 

UCLA and UC Berkeley, the leading U.S. public universities, charge about $44,000 annually for foreign students compared with less than $10,000 at their top public counterpart in Japan, Tokyo University...

California continues to attract the most international students — 161,693 — with six of the nation’s top 20 host universities located in the state. USC remained the most popular campus, enrolling 16,340 foreign students in 2018-19, followed by 11,942 at UCLA, 10,652 at UC San Diego, 10,063 at UC Berkeley, 8,064 at UC Irvine and 8,048 at UC Davis.

About 42% of the California foreign students are from China and 12.6% from India. Overall, international students helped boost the state economy by spending an estimated $6.8 billion on tuition, housing, food and other items, the report said...

USC and most UC campuses reported continued growth in fall 2019, but are moving to diversify their international students beyond China. India, with its growing economy, enormous population and national network of technical colleges, is a leading target for U.S. universities seeking high-quality graduate students...

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-11-18/california-remains-top-u-s-destination-for-foreign-students-although-numbers-dipped-slightly-last-year