Study: Financial uncertainty a problem for international grad students | Interactive feature

In today's economic climate, financial uncertainty is problematic for many international students applying to U.S. universities for graduate study - and a Council of Graduate Schools survey released last week confirmed these concerns.

Based on preliminary numbers of international graduate applicants, the survey found that doctoral applications increased over the past year, but master's applications decreased.

The survey includes the 400,000 international students who applied to 245 participating U.S. schools.

Nathan Bell, the report's author, explained that though applications for fall 2009 increased from last year, this is the third consecutive year that the rate of increase dropped.

This slowdown is attributed to several factors, he said, mainly the global economy and competition for international applications from other countries like Australia, England and Canada.

"These countries have increased their own capacity for graduate education and encourage their own students, as well as international students, to apply," Bell said.

This year has seen a 5-percent increase in doctoral applicants and a 17-percent decrease in master's applicants.

Bell said concerns about financial aid options in the current economic crisis led to the decline in master's applications.

Another trend observed this year is that the number of applicants from China, the Middle East and Turkey have increased significantly, but numbers of Indian and South Korean applicants have fallen.

"Applicants from China have increased this year because the capacity of Chinese graduate schools cannot keep up with the growing demand for graduate education," Bell said. "There are simply not enough seats, which is why students are coming here."

Looking at specific fields of study, the survey reported that the largest increases in preliminary applications occurred in arts and humanities (8 percent) and business (7 percent).

CGS conducts three surveys each year - this "Phase I" survey, a "Phase II" survey in June that publishes final accepted applicant numbers and a "Phase III" survey that reports total enrollment numbers in November.

The survey's results are still "preliminary" data, Bell explained, because a handful of universities do not have their final numbers yet.

The process of data collection from the schools lasts from mid-January to mid-March.

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