Lenders Find a Fast-Growing Market in Foreign Grad Students

What’s behind the astonishing growth in the number of foreign students enrolled in US graduate schools—growth now under attack from the Trump administration? In fall 2023, according to data from the Institute of International Education, just over half a million such students were enrolled. That was up 30% from 2021, when international enrollment had nearly recovered to its pre-Covid peak.

To be sure, American institutions have recruited heavily from around the world, particularly to fill seats in research labs and classrooms. But a handful of companies, including two in the US, are greasing the wheels with innovative loans that require neither collateral nor a US cosigner of foreign students from less-developed countries, who make up a growing share of international grad students.