US colleges attracting fewer new students from abroad

The number of foreign students heading to US colleges and universities fell again last year, the second straight decline after more than a decade of growth, a new report finds.

Enrollment of new international students dropped by about 7 per cent in fall 2017, according to an annual report released Tuesday by the State Department and the Institute of International Education, a nonprofit research group based in New York.

The overall number of foreign students in the US still increased slightly, by 1.5 per cent, fueled by growing numbers of students who stayed for temporary work after graduation. But the number of newly arriving students slid to about 271,000, the lowest levels since 2013.

The report's authors cited sharper competition from other countries including Australia and Canada, along with the rising cost of education in the US. They largely dismissed worries among some colleges that the White House's policies and rhetoric surrounding immigration could be driving students away.

"We're not hearing that students feel they can't come here. We're hearing that they have choices," Allan Goodman, president and CEO of the institute, said in a call with reporters. "For the first time, we have real competition."
"We have had conversations with parents who feel like their children will not be safe here, that their son or daughter may not be physically safe," said Karen Goos, the school's assistant vice provost for enrollment management. "I do think that it's a contributing factor."