I. Why and how do Chinese students come to America?

① Seeking a quality education tops the reasons why Chinese students come to America

Among the many reasons our respondents gave for choosing to study in the U.S., two stand out consistently over the years. Some 98 percent of respondents indicated that getting “the best possible education” was either important or somewhat important in their decision, regardless of their graduation cohort. Around 93 percent wanted to “experience life in another country outside of China.” The fact that an American education would allow them more freedom to choose their area of study was also important or somewhat important to 87 percent of respondents.

Somewhat to our surprise, parental opinion was one of the least mentioned reasons why students came to study in the U.S. Only about 38 percent of respondents said they came to study in the U.S. because of their parents.

About half of the respondents, 49 percent, indicated that their dream was to study in the U.S. These and other motivating factors for studying in the U.S. are shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Reasons for Studying in the U.S.

② Merit scholarships attract most Chinese international students, while Chinese government support has been negligible

Figure 4 shows funding tapped by students to study in the U.S. Overall, some 62 percent of respondents received merit-based support from American universities, while 40 percent received parental assistance and 7 percent received assistance from extended family or friends. Only 1.5 percent of respondents reported receiving any funding from the Chinese government, a negligible amount that belies the notion that students from China are largely sent to the US by their government.

Figure 4. Sources of Student Funding

Sources of student funding show considerable change over time, however. The rise of the middle class in China has made overseas education an affordable proposition for many Chinese households. It played a major role in the rapid increase of Chinese students coming to the U.S.starting in the early 2000s, especially undergraduates. Between 2002 and 2010, undergraduates jumped from 13 percent to 34 percent of the total number of Chinese international students in the US. This change is borne out in our survey. Figure 5 shows a clear increase in financial assistance from parents over the three cohorts, while merit-based scholarships decreased in relative proportion over time, consistent with the rising number of undergraduate students.