The Economic Benefits of International Education to the United States for the Academic Year: A Statistical Analysis

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1 The Economic Benefits of International Education to the United States for the Academic Year: A Statistical Analysis NAFSA: Association of International Educators estimates that foreign students and their dependents contributed approximately $20.23 billion to the U.S. economy during the academic year. This conservative figure is based on tuition figures from Wintergreen Orchard House, enrollment figures from the Institute of International Education's Open Doors 2011 report, living expenses calculated from Wintergreen Orchard House figures, and analysis of the data by Jason Baumgartner at Indiana University Bloomington s Office of International Services. NAFSA's annual Economic Impact Statements estimate the amount of money foreign students bring to the United States to support their education. This report does not rely on a multiplier effect. Although this might provide a more accurate estimate of actual economic impact, there is no consensus on the appropriate size of such a multiplier. NAFSA and its partners are committed to continuing efforts to improve our data and methodology. By any measure, international education makes a significant contribution to the U.S. economy New York Avenue, NW, Eighth Floor, Washington, DC Tel: Fax:

2 United States of America Total Number of Foreign Students: 723,277 Part 1: Net Contribution to U.S. Economy by Foreign Students ( ) Contribution from Tuition and Fees to U.S. Economy: $14,348,000,000 Contribution from Living Expenses: $13,207,000,000 Total Contribution by Foreign Students: $27,555,000,000 Less U.S. Support of 27.9% - $7,700,000,000 Plus Dependents' Living Expenses: + $378,000,000 Net Contribution to U.S. Economy by Foreign Students and their Families: $20,232,000,000 Part 2: Contribution to U.S. Economy by Foreign Students' Dependents ( ) Spouses' Contribution Percent of Married Students: Percent of Spouses in the U.S.: Number of Spouses in the U.S.: 56,679 Additional Expenses for a Spouse: (% of student living expenses) 7.8% 85.0% 25.0% Spouses' Contribution: $255,000,000 Children's Contribution Number of Couples in the U.S.: 56,679 Number of Children per Couple: 0.6 Number of Children in the U.S.: 33,884 Additional Expenses for a Child: (% of student living expenses) 20.0% Children's Contribution: $122,000,000 Net Contribution to U.S. Economy by Foreign Students' Dependents: $378,000,000 Part 3: Foreign Student Contribution from Tuition/Fees and Living Expenses ( ) State # of Foreign Students Tuition Living Expenses Less U.S. Total and Fees and Dependents Support Contribution (millions) (millions) (millions) (millions) Alabama 6,340 $92.2 $87.4 $50.6 $129.0 Alaska 604 $7.9 $9.1 $3.7 $13.3 Arizona 11,398 $195.0 $189.3 $105.2 $279.1 Arkansas 4,172 $60.5 $61.1 $27.2 $94.4 California 96,535 $1,737.9 $2,164.6 $910.5 $2,992.0 Colorado 7,688 $164.6 $154.9 $84.1 $235.4 Connecticut 10,137 $228.5 $205.6 $134.3 $299.9 Delaware 3,825 $73.1 $66.8 $37.8 $102.1 District of Columbia 7,951 $228.8 $200.6 $147.2 $282.2 Florida 29,719 $583.3 $556.3 $302.9 $836.7 Georgia 15,359 $337.9 $274.7 $182.9 $429.8 Hawaii 4,768 $58.6 $85.5 $29.1 $115.0 Idaho 2,112 $25.9 $29.0 $10.7 $44.2 Illinois 33,766 $784.8 $650.6 $489.8 $945.7

3 Indiana 20,112 $487.0 $342.7 $234.0 $595.6 Iowa 10,404 $203.2 $164.1 $87.0 $280.3 Kansas 9,389 $135.2 $129.8 $64.7 $200.2 Kentucky 5,111 $79.9 $72.2 $37.5 $114.6 Louisiana 7,429 $108.1 $107.9 $61.5 $154.5 Maine 1,158 $25.3 $20.2 $8.8 $36.6 Maryland 13,422 $276.9 $290.1 $169.5 $397.5 Massachusetts 38,698 $1,103.7 $884.1 $598.0 $1,389.8 Michigan 24,668 $584.8 $411.3 $290.4 $705.7 Minnesota 12,091 $214.3 $189.5 $101.2 $302.5 Mississippi 2,537 $30.5 $34.7 $18.8 $46.4 Missouri 15,114 $276.3 $251.6 $144.5 $383.3 Montana 1,301 $21.7 $19.4 $7.4 $33.8 Nebraska 4,194 $61.2 $65.0 $29.2 $97.0 Nevada 2,795 $37.9 $47.5 $19.1 $66.3 New Hampshire 2,626 $68.6 $50.8 $32.6 $86.8 New Jersey 13,844 $290.5 $299.6 $180.8 $409.3 New Mexico 2,724 $39.7 $40.4 $25.1 $55.0 New York 78,888 $1,748.3 $1,700.5 $1,017.5 $2,431.3 North Carolina 12,824 $249.0 $208.1 $152.8 $304.3 North Dakota 3,106 $43.6 $39.6 $21.5 $61.6 Ohio 24,709 $511.0 $445.9 $294.4 $662.4 Oklahoma 8,626 $117.8 $135.0 $63.7 $189.1 Oregon 8,929 $168.7 $174.0 $69.1 $273.6 Pennsylvania 30,507 $795.2 $593.9 $424.0 $965.1 Puerto Rico 858 $5.5 $10.7 $3.3 $13.0 Rhode Island 4,911 $125.7 $96.1 $47.0 $174.8 South Carolina 4,529 $87.1 $67.9 $47.5 $107.5 South Dakota 1,254 $10.7 $15.1 $4.4 $21.4 Tennessee 6,399 $120.6 $99.3 $61.5 $158.4 Texas 61,636 $845.3 $994.6 $471.9 $1,367.9 Utah 7,203 $88.8 $100.0 $44.0 $144.8 Vermont 1,078 $27.7 $19.4 $9.5 $37.6 Virgin Islands 129 $1.1 $2.4 $0.6 $3.0 Virginia 15,056 $279.0 $235.1 $126.8 $387.2 Washington 17,811 $257.7 $300.5 $94.4 $463.7 West Virginia 2,498 $39.0 $39.4 $22.5 $55.8 Wisconsin 9,248 $189.9 $133.5 $89.6 $233.8 Wyoming 1,087 $12.2 $17.2 $8.1 $21.3

4 Methodology: How We Compute Economic Impact (2011) We define economic impact as the amount of money that foreign students collectively bring into the United States to pay for their education and to support themselves while they (and in some cases, their families) are here. The goal of our economic impact formula is to use data already collected for other purposes to provide a reasonable estimate of the economic resources that foreign students import to the United States to support their education here each year. The data sets used for these reports come from two sources: 1. The Institute of International Education s Open Doors 2011 report, funded by the U.S. Department of State, provides numbers of foreign students enrolled at colleges and universities throughout the United States during the academic year. In many cases, this data provide separate totals for undergraduate, graduate, and non degree students. ( 2. Wintergreen Orchard House provides cost figures for tuition, living, and miscellaneous expenses at U.S. colleges and universities for the academic year. ( The extensive data provided by these two sources (which collect it directly from surveys of the institutions involved) allow us to make our estimates sensitive to differences between institutions. However, there are still areas where our estimates and formulas could be improved. For example, we compute economic impact only for students reported in the Open Doors report. Colleges and universities that do not provide information to the Institute of International Education are not represented. Also, enrollment reports represent peak enrollment, and not necessarily enrollment levels throughout the year. Estimating Expenses Tuition, fees, living expenses, and dollar estimates are derived from Wintergreen Orchard House s data collected on surveys completed by institutions every year. We try to make our calculations sensitive not only to differing costs at institutions, but differing costs for ESL students, undergraduates, graduate students, and students on practical training. 1. Undergraduates and English Language Programs: The number of undergraduate students at an institution is specified by Open Doors data. Wintergreen Orchard House s data provide undergraduate tuition and fee amounts, oncampus room and board amounts, and miscellaneous expenses. These categories are sometimes broken down into averages for international, out-of-state, flat rate, and in-state students. When multiple averages are available, we choose averages in the order given above. 2. Graduate Students: The number of graduate students at an institution is specified by Open Doors data. Wintergreen Orchard House s data provide graduate tuition and fee amounts, on-campus

5 room and board amounts, and miscellaneous expenses. If there are no differentiated graduate expenses provided by an institution in the Wintergreen Orchard House s data, then the undergraduate expenses would be applied. 3. Students on Practical Training: We assume these students earn enough in their U.S. jobs to pay living and educational expenses for the year, and so import no funds for their support. Therefore, net economic impact of students in practical training is zero. Economic impact of an international student equals tuition and fees, plus room and board, plus miscellaneous figured at 50 percent of room and board, less U.S. support. We assume: (a) that spring enrollment figures are the same as the fall figures reported, (b) that all students are enrolled full time for two semesters or three quarters a year, and (c) that students live on campus for the full year. The miscellaneous expenses, enumerated in Wintergreen Orchard House s data, average about 40 percent of room and board expenses. We use a 50 percent figure as an approximation that includes all extra expenses except for travel. Estimating U.S. Support The Open Doors survey asks schools to report the percentage of their students who are selffunded, the percentage that have U.S. source income, etc. The U.S. support percentage includes funding from a U.S. college or university, the U.S. Government, a U.S. private sponsor or current employment. For this analysis the percentages are calculated based upon the institution s Carnegie classification and the academic career of the student. For example, this process will differentiate the level of support between undergraduates and graduates at a particular research institution while it also differentiates between a baccalaureate-classified institution from an associate s-classified institution. Individual Institution Enrollment Figures For institutions with fewer than 10 international students enrolled, enrollment totals are suppressed for confidentiality reasons. In the reports, this is indicated by three asterisks (***).