美国仍然是留学生的首选目的地，目前有超过100万人，是排在其后的英国拥有的留学生人数的两倍多。但根据国际教育协会（IIE）年度开放门户报告的数据，去年来美留学生增加了1.5％，但新生入学率，特别是本科生，下降了6.6％，上一年也是同样的趋势。
教育工作者表示，美国公立大学每年的学费约为2万美元，精英私立大学的学费超过7万美元，在全球竞争加剧的情况下，这使得美国对国际学生的吸引力降低
国际教育协会的发言人凯瑟琳·莫里斯表示，65％的国际学生依赖“国际资金来源”，“超过一半的学生（59％）则靠自己的个人和家庭资助。”
在本科生中则有82％依靠个人和家庭资助。大多数外国学生不符合获得美国学校的经济援助的标准。
来自中国和印度的留学生占国际学生的近一半，分别为363,341人和196,271人。两年前印度的货币政策调整导致许多希望前往美国求学的学生失去了资金来源。而在国际学生中占主导的中国学生，据报道对身边的美国学生获得补贴而自己付全额学费越来越不满。
美国大学协会主席林恩帕斯克雷拉说，“目前的高等教育财政模式是不可持续的。”他说，“我们不能一直对国际提高学费或增加国内学生的贷款债务。”
The U.S. remains the top destination in the world for more than 1 million visiting students — hosting more than double the next country, the United Kingdom. But while 1.5 percent more students studied in the U.S. last year, the rate of new enrollments — specifically, undergraduate students — declined by 6.6 percent, a trend first seen the preceding year, according to the Institute for International Education’s (IIE) annual Open Doors report.
Tuition costs of around $20,000 a year for public institutions to more than $70,000 for elite private universities, make the U.S. look less attractive to international students, as global competition increases, educators said.
65% of international students rely on “international funding sources” said IIE spokesperson Catherine Morris, “with well over half of all students (59 percent) funded through their own personal and family funding.”
Among undergraduates, 82 percent rely on personal and family funding. Most are not eligible for financial aid at U.S. schools.
China and India send nearly half of all international students, 363,341 and 196,271, respectively, to the U.S. A currency correction in India two years ago wiped out funding sources for many students there hoping to head to the U.S. And Chinese students, who dominate the population of international students, report growing discontent with paying full tuition next to subsidized domestic students.
“The current financial model for higher education isn’t sustainable,” offered Lynn Pasquerella, president of the Association of American Colleges and Universities. “We can’t raise tuitions and have burgeoning loan debts” for international or domestic students.