What is the top concern of prospective international college students? New report ranks students’ priorities

International student enrollment has jumpedover 30percent over five years according to the Institute of International Education, with international undergraduate enrollment in particular rising significantly during that period. As more international college students come to the United States to study—and as more American colleges and universities look abroad to enroll students—what concerns do international students have about enrolling here?

According toNoel-Levitz’s latest joint report with CollegeWeekLive, Meeting the Expectations of International Undergraduate and Graduate Students, the biggest issue is money. That’s what more than 2,500 prospective international college students told us when we polled them earlier this year:

What are international students’ concerns about studying abroad?

For the second straight year, funding has dominated the concerns of international students, as these 2014results were very similar to a 2013 study we did which only polled prospective undergraduate students. As you can see, when we looked at prospective graduate students along with undergraduates in this year’s study, both groups listed funding as their top concern by a wide margin.

This may be surprising to some enrollment managers, because I think there is an assumption that many international students have funding from their home countries or are well off enough that they will be able toafford full tuition at American institutions. As the next finding shows, however, many expect to receive U.S. scholarships and aid to finance their educations at American institutions.

How do international students plan to fund their educations?

While this table shows that personal or family finances were the top funding source for undergraduates, almost an equal number listed U.S. college aid and scholarships. In fact, U.S. college aid was the top source for prospective graduate students. Furthermore, only about one in three prospective graduate studentsindicated they would have funding from their home government or a university in their country. Again, that may come as a surprise for American institutions.

You canfind more detailsabout the expectations and concerns of prospective international students in Meeting the Expectations of International Undergraduate and Graduate Students. If you have any questions about the report, please email me.