Executive Summary
As the 2022-2023 academic year begins, there is widespread hope that COVID concerns and travel restrictions won’t disrupt campus life like they did over the past two academic years. Students are once again returning to campuses that in many ways resemble pre-pandemic days. While there’s no doubt that the pandemic created challenges for students, families and institutions, this report highlights student attitudes and lessons learned that will continue to be relevant in a post-COVID world.
To better understand the outlook for global education post-pandemic, Flywire conducted an independent survey of 1,929 higher education students in nine different countries — Australia, Canada, China, India, Mexico, Peru, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States — about returning to school, studying internationally, curriculum preferences, student visas, and paying for their education. The results provide a lot of optimism.
Demand for global education remains high among students in all nine countries, motivated primarily by the opportunity for new cultural experiences and the academic reputation of international schools. One decidedly pre-COVID concern that has not diminished is the cost of education and how to pay for it. The process of making tuition payments continues to be a source of stress for students and families. Many are looking for simpler, more flexible payment processes, and others are looking for assistance in the form of payment installment plan options, and specifically in the US, ways to reduce student debt.