Massachusetts ranks fourth in the US for hosting international students, with a majority coming from the Indo-Pacific region. The growth of Indo-Pacific students contributes financially to the state while enriching local communities through collaboration, culture, and exchanges.
Massachusetts ranks fourth in the United States in the number of international students, with 70% coming from the Indo-Pacific and contributing about $2.2 billion to the state economy annually. The high number of Indo-Pacific students in Massachusetts could be attributed to the need for international students at state institutions, international students’ growing interest in American education, and well-crafted promotion campaigns by universities in Indo-Pacific economies.
US Public Institutions and Massachusetts’s “Demographic Cliff”
Since the early 2000s and during the Great Recession, public research universities across the US have experienced appropriation cuts due to declining tax revenue. Institutions often make up the lost revenue by recruiting international students, who are charged a higher tuition rate compared to in-state students, are not eligible for federal aid, are not always considered for “need-based” scholarships in admissions, and may need to pay special fees for visa processing and English language exams. The increase in international students generates gains in tuition revenues for public research universities, partially offsets the loss in appropriations, and mitigates the need to raise in-state tuition rates or cut expenditures.
Massachusetts's budget for public higher education has decreased annually since fiscal year (FY) 2001. New England states have also experienced a “demographic cliff,” — lower fertility rates and families moving to the South and Southwest due to cheaper housing, warmer weather, or better job opportunities — leading to lower local college enrollment. State institutions have had to increase the enrollment of out-of-state students to make up for lost revenues.
Two of Massachusetts’s most renowned institutions, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), have large numbers of international students. The Indo-Pacific provided more than half of MIT’s 3,478 international students in the 2023-2024 academic year and about 1,600 students and scholars at Harvard in the 2022-2023 academic year. For some institutions such as Northeastern University, recruiting international students is a deliberate policy to prepare the campus community for a more globalized world.
The Bay State Pivots to Indo-Pacific Students
Indo-Pacific countries’ economic and population growth matches the growing demands for quality higher education abroad. US institutions take advantage of Indo-Pacific customers’ diverse needs, concerns, and interests. For example, while choosing a US college, Vietnamese families consider the institution’s location, campus safety, cost of attendance, and employment skills. While Chinese students traditionally have a large presence at US universities, community colleges and vocational schools are gaining popularity as these institutions typically have fewer prerequisites for admission, more affordable tuition and fees, and offer credits recognized by US four-year universities. Meanwhile, Indian students often consider rankings, post-studies employment options, and financial aid, making the Indian international undergraduate and graduate recruitment markets competitive.
All these factors can be found in Massachusetts, which has a reputation as “the education state” and hosts some of the finest universities in the world, among the 148 accredited institutions of higher education accepting international students. The state also has some of the best community colleges in the United States, and international students can transfer to finish their four-year degree at a Massachusetts public university under the "MassTransfer" scheme. Furthermore, Massachusetts’s strong tech-focused industry, highest technology jobs per capita, and highest tech job concentration in the nation are incentives for Indo-Pacific students interested in STEM majors.
The research-oriented University of Massachusetts (UMass) system has taken advantage of attracting international students. The Pioneer Institute, a Boston-based free market think tank, reports that since 2010, the UMass campuses at Boston, Dartmouth, and Lowell hired Australian educational consulting firm Navitas to recruit international students for a commission of about $11,900 per student, or half the student’s tuition and fees. In February 2015, the three UMass campuses renewed ten-year term contracts with Navitas, extending the length of the partnership until 2025. Navitas-affiliated programs support international students to adapt to American higher education through tailored pre-college programs, such as the “Global Student Success Program” at UMass Boston featuring testimonies from Taiwanese, Chinese, Indian, and Saudi Arabian students. As early as 2011, the two smaller UMass campuses at Dartmouth and Lowell had posted advertisements in VnExpress, a major Vietnamese news website, highlighting the institutions’ ranking and regional reputation on US News and World Report. However, the state’s outreach to Indo-Pacific markets seems to be focused on public research institutions rather than the baccalaureate-focused state universities.
From 2012 to 2016, China, India, South Korea, Vietnam, and Saudi Arabia were the top five countries of origin for international students at UMass Boston. In 2022, at UMass Amherst, more than half of international undergraduate students came from China, and more than 77% of international undergraduates are from the Indo-Pacific. India, China, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam were also represented at UMass Lowell with 645 students. These results are consistent with findings of a 2023 report by the Institute of International Education (IIE), where US institutions attributed their growing number of international students with rebound from declines experienced during the COVID-19, more successful outreach efforts to admitted students, and growing the reputation and visibility of the institution abroad.
Massachusetts private institutions also witnessed a growth of students and cooperation programs in the Indo-Pacific. In 2022, two of the ten institutions with the highest number of international students in the US were Northeastern University (ranked second) and Boston University (ranked seventh), with China, India, and Taiwan among the top places of origin at the two universities. Some institutions also have Asia cooperation programs, such as Boston College’s study abroad programs in Hong Kong, Kathmandu, Manila, and Seoul. These institutions emphasize diversity in cultural and educational programs by offering majors in Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Asian studies, or hosting Korean language competitions attracting students across the state.
Indo-Pacific students have influenced social life through student organizations, contributed to the school’s reputation through community service abroad; and in the case of UMass Amherst, upgraded the institution’s campus dining to cater to students of Asian descent with Japanese ramen, Vietnamese bánh mì sandwiches, and Indian kheer pudding.
Indo-Pacific students may also find community with Massachusetts’s Asian American community, totaling half a million in 2024. While the Asian population is principally concentrated in Boston, suburbs such as Quincy and Malden have been established enclaves for years. Several Massachusetts college towns, such as Lowell, Amherst, and Wellesley, also have large Asian American communities.
Massachusetts Keeping International Talents Through Public and Private Initiatives
While the state government cannot outline federal visa policies, retention of international students promotes their contribution to the state’s job market, especially through startups and entrepreneur initiatives. For example, 25 founders of 143 “unicorn” companies (privately-owned companies with a valuation of over $1 billion) in 2023 were international students educated at Massachusetts institutions, and 59% of the former international students who founded venture capital-backed startups in Massachusetts were educated in the state. Policies to keep international students in the state would positively impact Indo-Pacific students, who constitute 70% of the state’s international student population.
In the December 2023 Economic Development Plan submitted to the Massachusetts Legislature, Governor Maura Healey’s administration wanted to expand a “Global Entrepreneur-In-Residence" program (GEIR) to help keep international graduates in the state upon graduation. First implemented in 2014 under Democratic Governor Deval Patrick and maintained during Republican Governor Charlie Baker’s administration, GEIR seeks to help international students attain H-1B working visas. H-1B requires a valid job offer from a US employer for a role that requires “specialty knowledge,” such as theoretical or technical expertise in science, engineering, or computer programming, the proof of a bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in that field, and the employer must show that there is a lack of qualified US applicants for the role. While Congress maintains a statutory limit (popularly known as “the cap”) allowing only 65,000 H-1B visas to be issued per year, this cap does not apply to universities and related nonprofit entities, nonprofit research organizations, and government research organizations. As a public university, UMass Boston conducts the GEIR program by sponsoring cap-exempt H-1B petitions for international graduates to stay and work in the state.
At the federal level, the Biden-Harris administration’s US-Indo-Pacific Strategy acknowledges that the US “is the leading international provider of education to students from the Indo-Pacific – nearly 68% of international students studying in the United States hail from the region – forging ties that help to fuel next-generation dynamism in both of our countries,” and emphasizing educational exchange programs and joint research in critical domains of science and technology. The Bay State lives up to this expectation.
Sam Tran is a Summer 2024 Young Professional at the East-West Center in Washington. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a B.A. in Political Science in May 2024.