Foreign Enrollment at American Universities

Foreign enrollment at USC tops the charts among American universities (photo credit: Padsquad19).

Ever wonder which university in the United States enrolls the most foreign students? Wonder no longer. That university is the University of Southern California and this has been the case for years. According to “The LA Times” article on foreign enrollment at American universities, “For the 11th year in a row, USC enrolled the most foreigners of any U.S. college or university in the 2011-12 school year as rising numbers of Chinese students pursued American education, according to a new study.” In fact, USC enrolled 9.269 students during the 2011-2012 academic cycle, which marked a 7% increase from the previous year, as reported by “The LA Times,” citing “The Institute of International Education’s” findings.

New York University, Purdue University, University of Michigan, Northeastern University, Columbia University, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Michigan State University, and Ohio State University also all boast high foreign enrollment as compared to other American universities. The number of foreign students enrolling at American universities continues to rise (up 5.7% last year alone) and a good chunk of this contingency hails from China. After China, India, South Korea, Canada, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Turkey, Vietnam, and Mexico are all among the nations sending a ton of students to the United States for their undergraduate and graduate studies.

These universities recruit quite a bit in Asian nations and don’t expect this trend to be changing anytime soon. Students hailing from China, India, South Korea, Japan, etc. pay the full cost of tuition. Schools needs those students. If they only admitted students who need financial aid, they’d be in serious financial trouble. That’s why the notion that schools are need-blind is a fallacious one. It’s pure myth. These foreign enrollment statistics at American universities attest to that very fact.

While you’re here, check out this post on the SAT and International Students.