Beyond the Bottom Line

The gauntlet has been thrown down for U.S. higher education institutions to step up efforts to help their current and prospective international students find ways to pay for their education. More global competition for international students, less support from some key international sending countries, and tight financial situations at many colleges mean that many colleges will have to use all the tools at their disposal, and often some creativity, to help entice and support those students and to meet their institutions’ internationalization goals.

“Overall, the financial situation for international students to study here is becoming more difficult,” says George Kacenga, director of international enrollment management at the University of Colorado-Denver, a public institution. “More international and domestic students are competing for a limited pool of resources. For public institutions relying on out-of-state and international students to offset state budget cuts, discounting the tuition of these same students can be counterproductive. Negotiating scholarships and merit awards at rates that will attract applicants but not break the budget is a difficult task.”

In an era when geopolitical developments, the Trump administration’s immigration policies, and international education economic trends threaten traditional mainstays of international student source countries, many international enrollment leaders say they are rapidly trying to diversify their international student source countries, and that the strategic use of financial aid is an important component of that drive. 

Most international students still pay for their own education. Based on the Institute of International Education’s Open Doors data of the total number of international students in