Nicholas Bianco and Tala Alsharif / Jambar Contributors
Youngstown State University reported a 44% increase of international students from over 500 students in 2018 to nearly 1,300 in fall 2024.
Out of the total number of currently enrolled YSU students, nearly one-tenth are international.
Jina Vitullo, coordinator of the English Language Institute, believes YSU’s affordability is paving the way towards international enrollment increase.
“You can’t beat our prices, we are so affordable and because of that increase, we also built [a] community, especially with the Nepalese community, and the Vietnamese community,” Vitullo said.
Ross Morrone, academic marketing and enrollment strategy officer, said international students’ positive feedback about YSU contributes to attracting more international students.
“There was this first wave of students that came over and had great experiences and went home, and then we saw family members and friends start to show up as well.” Morrone said.
Morrone said the International Programs Office is tasked with handling recruitment strategy overseas.
“We work with agents across the globe, and basically what they do for us is they help recruit students overseas for us,” Morrone said.
Morrone credits the university’s Google AdWords campaign in attracting international students to YSU.
“We’ve really ramped up our Google AdWords campaigns overseas, which has allowed us to target users based on the interests of what they’re looking to come into from a program standpoint,” Morrone said. “That has definitely been a driver. The traffic that we see from those campaigns has been tremendous.”
Explore.ysu.edu is a website where students applying to YSU can see what the university offers. Morrone said the website is not only for domestic students but for international students.
“It has all of our program listings on there, what you can study, outcomes, what you can do with those kinds of degrees,” Morrone said.
Morrone said the biggest challenge is understanding different cultural balances and how they can be accommodated.
“You don’t want to neglect [any students], but you also want them to be introduced to the American way of life too,” Morrone said. “There’s a balance that has to be figured out still a little bit there, and we’ve all been doing a great job to get that balance.”
Vitullo said the international programs office tries to get international students involved in student organizations and clubs to make them feel at home.
“We have 1,350 international students right now,” Vitullo said. “With the capacity that we have, we are trying to put everything we can into all of these organizations and events.”
IPO puts on International Coffee Hour twice a month during the academic year. Vitullo said international students are able to connect with the community at the event.
“With International Coffee Hour, we see everyone, not just YSU students, not just faculty, everyone from the community,” Vitullo said.
The COVID-19 pandemic led to a decrease in international student enrollment, which rose to normal enrollment rates in the following academic years.
“COVID presented challenges for everybody, being able to cross from country to country definitely presented challenges,” Morrone said. “[We’re] coming out of that and having things open back up to the way they were, it definitely kind of put a little bump in the road, but we’ve been able to see that growth.”
International students are encouraged to get involved on campus through IPO.
Sources
Ross Morrone, Academic Marketing and Enrollment Strategy Officer
Jina Vitullo, Coordinator of the English Language Institute
