EnglishUSA report shows slight increase in 2024 for English language providers

The Annual Report on English Language Programs in the USA is based on the participation of 349 providers across 48 states, including private language schools, universities and community colleges, of which 199 were EnglishUSA members.

Headline data: Those schools hosted 66,632 international students in 2024 and delivered a total of 854,443 student weeks.

Based on 264 providers that contributed both this year and last year, student numbers increased by 1.5 per cent in 2024 while student weeks rose by 7.3 per cent, compared with 2023.

The average stay in 2024 was 12.8 weeks, an increase of 0.6 weeks compared with the previous year. EnglishUSA said that the longer average stay was driven by growth from longer-stay Asian markets such as Vietnam and China, which had average stays of 15.9 and 13.6 weeks, respectively.

Top source countries in the EnglishUSA 2024 report. Source – EnglishUSA/Bonard.

Source markets: Japan was again the top source country with 9,731 students, although there was an eight per cent decrease among providers in the year-on-year comparison, followed by China with 6,304, which rose from fourth place in the previous year’s survey with an 11 per cent increase.

The top five was completed by Brazil (5,600 students), Colombia (3,917) and South Korea (3,840).

Vietnam in 10th place was one of the largest year-on-year growth markets with a 126 per cent increase, while Kazakhstan (+157 per cent), United Arab Emirates (+128 per cent) and Armenia (+177 per cent) were other significant triple-digit growth markets.

Among the top 20 source markets, India (-33), Saudi Arabia (-19) and Venezuela (-19) had the largest declines.

Provider type: Private English language schools accounted for the largest share of student numbers at 47 per cent and had a one per cent year-on-year increase in students, while university-governed providers had similar growth and constituted 40 per cent of students. College-government and community-college government providers also registered growth.

By student weeks, community college-based providers had the largest increases at 28 per cent, followed by college-governed providers on 17 per cent.

Program type: The most popular course type was General/Intensive English, which accounted for 53 per cent of students, followed by short-term summer/winter programs (17 per cent), English for Academic Purposes (15), and pathways (seven).

Recruitment channels: Direct bookings with providers was the most common recruitment channel on 44 per cent, followed by recruitment though an agency (33 per cent) – which was an increase over 23 per cent in the previous year’s report – institutional agreements (12) and government scholarships (six).

Recruitment channels for different types of English language provider in the USA. Source – Bonard/EnglishUSA.

Agent-based recruitment at private English language providers was higher at 52 per cent and was lowest at community colleges at only five per cent.

Student profile: The majority of students at the schools surveyed studied on F-1 student visas (56 per cent), while 17 per cent were short-term visitors on ESTAs, and a further 10 per cent were on B-1/B-2 visitor visas.

Adults made up 90 per cent of students at the schools surveyed, while juniors accounted for the remaining 10 per cent.

Sector value: EnglishUSA estimated that international students at the schools in the survey had a direct economic contribution of US$950 million. Extrapolating across the ELT industry as a whole, the authors estimated the value of English language students as exceeding US$1.7 billion.

International students spent an average of US$388 per week on tuition last year, and US$754 per week on additional costs, including accommodation, food and transportation.

“The 2025 report reflects a year of resilience and adaptation for the U.S. English language program sector,” said Cheryl Delk-Le Good , EnglishUSA Executive Director.

“Despite continued challenges, our members provided critical data that not only highlights key trends but also strengthens our collective voice. These insights are essential for informed decision-making and continued advocacy.”

Challenges: Student visa denials were identified as the most pressing challenge by 61 per cent of the English language providers surveyed.

Visa refusals: The English language providers surveyed had a visa refusal rate of 14 per cent in 2024, and Türkiye was the most affected with 492 refusals, followed by China (427), Colombia (425), Vietnam (419) and Brazil (368).

This survey was conducted in February and March this year, prior to a three-week pause of new student visa interviews, announcements of visas being “aggressively revoked” from Chinese students, and the introduction of new social media vetting guidelines – measures which may amplify providers’ concerns.

A survey of prospective students released recently by IDP Education showed that almost two-thirds of students thought that obtaining a visa would become more difficult.

Low enrolments were cited as a challenge by 53 per cent of English language providers, due to their impact on recruitment budgets, while international competition from other study destinations ranked third on 37 per cent.

Cheryl Delk-Le Good, Executive Director of EnglishUSA.

The growth findings are similar to the recently released Open Doors survey on Intensive English Programs (IEPs) in the USA by the Institute of International Education (IIE), which showed a two per cent increase in student numbers.

Now in its third year, the EnglishUSA report is produced in collaboration with Bonard and is partially funded by the Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration’s Market Development Cooperator Program (MDCP) grant that EnglishUSA received in October 2022.