International students contribute over $21 billion to the U.S. economy, through their expenditures on tuition and living expenses, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. Higher education is among the United States' top service sector exports, as international students provide revenue to the U.S. economy and individual host states for living expenses, including room and board, books and supplies, transportation, health insurance, support for accompanying family members, and other miscellaneous items.
Open Doors reports that more than 60% of all international students receive the majority of their funds from personal and family sources. When other sources of foreign funding are included, such as assistance from their home country governments or universities, over 70% of all international students' primary funding comes from sources outside of the United States.
More detailed breakdowns of the economic contributions of international students and their dependents to the U.S. economy and to individual host states are prepared by NAFSA, using enrollment figures from the Institute of International Education's Open Doors 2011 report, tuition figures from Wintergreen Orchard House, living expenses calculated from Wintergreen Orchard House figures, and analysis of the data by Jason Baumgartner at Indiana University – Bloomington's Office of International Services.
During the 2010/11 academic year, NAFSA estimates that international students and their dependents contributed approximately $20.2 billion to the U.S. economy.
See NAFSA's statistical analysis of the economic benefits of international education to the United States for detailed reports on these economic contributions, as a summary for the entire United States, or in separate PDF reports for each state.