IPEDS Data & International Students

US Degrees Earned by International Students: Three Snap-shots, Three Decades

This report looks at international students who received associate’s or bachelor’s degrees from US higher education institutions, at three intervals of time, each a decade apart. International students comprise only a small percentage of total degrees conferred: just under three percent for the first two time periods and nearly four percent in the final time period. Nonetheless, this growing population (112,440 degrees in the most recent academic year) deserves attention due to US campus initiatives to internationalize and need for increased revenue for US institutions. It’s interesting to note that academic years ’96-’97 and ’16-’17 conferred more degrees for males than females, which is opposite from the total degrees conferred for those years. Moreover, while all three years show more degrees conferred at public institutions, the most recent year indicates that nearly twice as many international students earned degrees from public institutions as opposed to private institutions. It’s also clear from the data that international students receive bachelor’s degrees at a much higher rate than associate’s degrees.