With billions of dollars in economic activity, international students are a huge boost for the US

Of the millions of young adults heading off to college this fall, many will be international students. If trends continue, about 1 million students from around the world will come to the US to pursue higher education this year.

These young scholars make a big economic impact. Altogether, they pump more than $40 billion into the US economy and support over 368,000 jobs. That’s not just paying professors and buying textbooks – it includes everything from renting apartments to late-night DoorDash and Grubhub deliveries. And it’s near a record high.

In fact, higher education is the 10th-leading export of the United States, according to the US Bureau of Economic Analysis – except the export is really an import, of students from around the world.

Think of it this way: If you went to Paris to see the Olympics this year, the Olympics was the export that brought you – the tourist, or, in economic terms, the import – to France. In the complex world of economic balance of trade accounting, international students are the tourists visiting US campuses.

Only economists could think that studying and taking exams is somehow a vacation.