MSU expecting fewer new international students in 2015

EAST LANSING – After seeing international student enrollment more than quadruple in the past decade, Michigan State University may be seeing the tide recede.

Though official numbers won’t be available until after the incoming freshmen class arrives in August, applications from international students were down 4 percent from last year, said Jim Cotter, MSU’s director of admissions. MSU is predicting that the number of international students in the incoming freshman class will be a couple hundred less than 2014, when 1,185 enrolled at the university.

“One of the things we’re monitoring is the significant shift internationally,” Cotter said. “It seems to be a bit of a national phenomenon and other institutions have also seen a downward shift in international applications.”

The most significant decrease is from China, Cotter said. Noting that the vast majority of students from outside the U.S. are Chinese, Cotter said it isn’t clear whether the number of applications is leveling off after years of rapid expansion, or outside factors such as economic limitations are mounting.

In the fall of 2014, 3,916 Chinese undergraduates were enrolled at MSU, according to university data, accounting for 71 percent of international undergraduates and 10 percent of the all undergraduates.

A decrease in international enrollment at MSU stands in stark contrast to the growth of the past decade. In 2005, 202 international students were part of MSU’s incoming freshmen class. Ten years later, nearly a thousand new international undergraduates arrived on campus, comprising 15 percent of 2014’s freshmen class. International student arrivals peaked in 2013, when 1304 international students landed in East Lansing, accounting for 17 percent of incoming freshmen, according to MSU data.

Trends at MSU have mirrored international student enrollment nationwide, as chronicled by the Institute of International Education. Since the 2006-2007 academic year, international student enrollment increased each year, in 2013-2014, more than 780,000 international students attended U.S. colleges and universities up 8 percent from the year prior, according to the institute.

Though a decrease isn’t good news, James Dorsett, director of the Office for International Students and Scholars said many other large Americans institutions across the country are seeing similar diminishing numbers. In the years to come, Dorsett said OISS will continue to monitor the situation and fulfill the needs of students who choose MSU.

“With the recent increase in international students, we’ve really tried to concentrate on giving students the best information and support when they get here,” Dorsett said.

He said specific campaigns to improve orientation for international students have yielded positive results, as have concerted efforts to make housing and dinning on campus more appealing.

Thanks to increases in both out-of-state and in-state applicants, MSU is expecting a freshmen class between 7,850 and 7,900 students, mirroring the past two fall semesters, Cotter said. Michigan high school graduates are expected to make up about 70 percent of all incoming freshmen, with a few hundred additional out-of-state students filling the gap left by the decline in international enrollees.

Thanks in part to outreach efforts in states like California and Texas, MSU boosted out-of-state applications 20 percent from a year ago, Cotter said. The target number of freshmen MSU is hoping to enroll is so close to the past two years because the university has limited student housing, Cotter said.

Looking forward, Cotter said MSU will need to continue to pursue out-of-state students as the number of Michigan high school graduates shrinks. Current projections for the number of high school graduates within the state show nearly a third fewer graduates in 2028 than in 2014, according to the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education.

To fill this void, MSU has deployed recruitment advisers on the ground in several states including Illinois, New York and New Jersey. It’s from these states that the increases are most evident, Cotter said, though it’s especially hard to predict whether out-of-state students who are admitted to the university will actually enroll.

“As pools diversify, it’s harder to predict level of interest and who is going to show up,” Cotter said. “It’s not a minimal financial commitment to come here out of state, but in-state we remain very competitive in terms of cost.”

Contact RJ Wolcott at (517) 377-1026 or rwolcott@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @wolcottr.