Page 17 - StudyTravel Magazine September 2025 Issue

SECONDARY FOCUS

Number of international students at Number of international students at
secondary schools in the USA CAPS-I schools
Source: Sevis by the numbers Spring report Source: CAPS-I
60,000 60,000
50,000 50,000

40,000 40,000
30,000 30,000
20,000 20,000
10,000 10,000
0 0
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24
Years Years

and Mexico. In addition, there interest, though there steady. We’re also seeing
has been steady engagement has been a slight dip in growing engagement
from students in Germany, international enquir- from other regions
Italy, and Spain. More recently, we’ve ies and applications - likely thanks to
received inquiries and applications as some families expanded outreach
from Eastern European countries for take a more efforts and strong
the 2025/26 school year, signalling cautious approach referrals from
new and exciting opportunities for due to the current current families
cultural exchange and collaboration.” US visa landscape,” and agents.”
Jessie-May adds, “Looking ahead, she explains. “Even Christy Horst from
we anticipate continued global uncer- so, many international Lancaster Mennonite in
tainty, both political and economic, families remain eager to Lancaster, PA, says that
that will influence decision-making pursue a meaningful second- international enquiries have
among families considering interna- ary school experience in the USA, increased over the last year, although
tional education. The rise of interna- and we’ve been encouraged by the “cost and visa refusals have kept our
tional schools within students’ home consistency of that interest.” numbers from growing significantly”.
countries adds further complexity. According to the latest statistics She adds, “I am hopeful that with
More than ever, we will rely on the from Sevis, the number of F-1 and M-1 strong educational opportunities in
expertise and insight of our agent visa holders at US secondary schools the USA, we will continue to grow
partners to help identify families increased between 2024 and 2025 by and recruit secondary students from
who are aligned with the mission and eight per cent, although it remained abroad to prepare them for higher
values of Pickering College.” 34 per cent down on figures for 2019. education in the USA. Some factors,
Chinese and Vietnamese student
IN THE USA numbers increased between 2024 including US administration deci-
sions on immigration and visas, are
and 2025, while Korean and Spanish out of our control and it remains to
Schools in the USA report that students showed a notable decline. be seen how that will affect the next
conditions are challenging with US With a strong dependence on Asia for few years. We’ve been putting more
universities expecting international student recruitment some schools resources into marketing and support
student numbers to fall this year: report that they are trying to diver- services for our international students
bit.ly/3IAEAIT. However, demand sify in order to shore up numbers in at the same time that some US high
remains high, according to Tracy the future. Tracy says, “Our largest schools are closing programs, so we
How from Besant Hill School in Ojai, international student populations hope that will help our International
CA. “Over the past 12 months, we’ve come from China and South Korea, Student Program to thrive.”
continued to see strong global and those numbers have held pretty bethan@studytravel.network

14 STUDYTRAVEL MAGAZINE Photo: Pickering College