Schools Look Overseas For Increased Enrollment

Angela Januzzi

July 26, 2007 

Community Colleges seem inherently dedicated to recruiting from their own geographic vicinity for potential students. Yet, as the number of international students studying at community colleges has increased by 17.8 percent since 1999, community colleges and their affiliate associations are catching-on to the market pool of overseas students. 

Joanne Low, dean for the School of International Education and English as a Second Language at San Francisco’s City College, says that: “Before the last two or three years, we did the ‘armchair-type’ recruiting, where we would put ads only in a limited number of publications.” Low adds that, now, that strategy needs to change. “We’ve found that there’s just more competition,” she says. “There are more community colleges and colleges in general that are actively recruiting international students now.” 

Five years ago the American Association of Community Colleges began assisting schools in recruiting students overseas, since international students are now recognizing—more than ever before--that beginning their American college education at a cheaper community institution can still allow them to transfer and earn their degree from a traditional campus school. 

However, only 800 of the nation’s 1200 community colleges are certified to enroll international exchange students, and many colleges are hesitant to pursue the option due to questions of their missions or primary obligations to their communities. Other more tangible obstacles exist, too: lack of housing for international students, student confusion with the academic system, and implementation of English-as-second-language instruction. 

The cost of recruiting one international student for Houston’s community college, according to recruitment director Gigi Do, is $10,000 to $12,000 per student—far more of an investment than a local recruitment. Also, because most international students are moving to the US to be closer to family members or established acquaintances, it still remains to be proven if active recruitment of foreign students even results in  higher international enrollments than would otherwise occur. 

Source: Redden, Elizabeth. “Branding Community Colleges Abroad.” www.insidehighered.com. Posted: July 26, 2007.