Many institutions' hard work paid off, as IIE Spring 2022 Snapshot reported, most US colleges see increasing number of international student applications for 2022/23. Yet at the same time, we see other sources showing declining enrollment. Our experience says both sides are correct.

During the difficult time, U.S. higher education institutions continued to support their international students, institutional efforts to provide current international students academic, emotional, and financial assistance were made. At the same time, they are committed to grow the international student number through diversified methods. In a way, the pandemic pushed institutions to rethink and invest in optimizing international students application and admission processes, and to be more creative in international student recruitment. According to IIE, 65% of institutions report an increase in their international student applications for the 2022/23 academic year across all institutional types, up from 43% one year ago. The majority of responding institutions noted increases in applications for the 2022/23 academic year, particularly Master’s Colleges and Universities (76%), Doctoral Universities (73%), community colleges (68%), and liberal arts colleges (51%). When asked what outreach and recruitment tools were the most useful, many institutions, reporting institutions most readily cited agents, online recruitment events, current international students, and international partnerships. (See complete report here.)

Further along the road, enrollment data might tell a slightly different story. According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center Spring 2022 Enrollment Estimates, there was a 4.1% decrease in total higher education enrollment in spring 2022 compared to spring 2021, which translate to 685,000 students (counting both domestic and international students). Undergraduate enrollment accounted for most of the decline, dropping 4.7 percent this spring or over 662,000 students from spring 2021. This is only slightly less than last spring's 4.9 percent loss. As a result, the undergraduate student body is now 9.4 percent or nearly 1.4 million students smaller than before the pandemic. (See complete report here.) Combining with existing trends of US students opting out of degree studies, other study abroad destinations gaining on the U.S. because of geo-political factors, cheaper tuition and overall expenses, more welcoming immigration policies etc.. Despite growth in application number, for many US institutions, the final enrollment number is to be observed.

There is no question the high quality of U.S. higher education remains very appealing for Chinese families, this could be an opportunity for institutions to take a step back and reassess their support for international recruitment, the actual college experience of international students and care for their international alumni. International students are not just data for internationalization or source of revenue, when making enrollment decisions, it is important to know that the institutions care about them.