Do Foreign Students Crowd Out Native Students from Graduate Programs?

Abstract

This paper examines how the growth in the number of foreign students enrolled in graduate programs affects native enrollment in those programs. Although there is little evidence of a crowdout effect for the typical native student, the impact of foreign students on native educational outcomes differs dramatically across ethnic groups, and is particularly adverse for white native men. There is a strong negative correlation between increases in the number of foreign students enrolled at a particular university and the number of white native men in that university's graduate program. This crowdout effect is strongest at the most elite institutions.