Twenty-eighth International Conference on Learning

Abstract

In recent decades, the number of U.S. students studying abroad and international students studying in U.S. higher education institutions has rapidly risen while the number of U.S. students not studying abroad is stagnating. Using multinomial logistic regressions, this sociological study analyses the similarities and differences in student characteristics of these three groups and how they converge or differ over time based on a large quantitative dataset from a four-year public liberal arts college in the U.S. Midwest between 2007 and 2017. Initial findings show that international and study abroad students differ from U.S. students not studying abroad by age, race/ethnicity, academic major, GPA, and merit-based scholarships whereas international students stand out from U.S. students by their non-first-generation status, non-membership in honors programs, participation in STEM programs, semester preference, and gender distribution. These outcomes help us to better understand long term trends of a diversifying student body, the sustainability of this process, and efforts to overcome disparities.