The Importance of International Students in the United States

Abstract

The overarching focus of this study is to gain a comprehensive understanding of how the admission of international students into institutions of higher education in the US, creates advantages to their college campuses and communities, apart from its concomitant liabilities. The US has been the most preferred study abroad destination for international students (IIE, Open Doors, 2023). In the 2022/2023 academic year, 1,057,188 international students enrolled in colleges and universities in the US representing about 25% of total international students enrollment worldwide (Bound et al., 2020).This study will be an exploratory attempt to understand the advantages that international students bring to higher education institutions in the US and their contributions to the country's economy overall. It is intended to provide a rich description of international students contributions over the years, in addition to the costs and benefits associated with admission of international students.