US interest in overseas education spikes after election

An uptick in post-election traffic to study choice websites may be a signal that students are looking to avoid studying under another Trump administration.

On the day following the election results, Study.eu reported a threefold increase in traffic from the US. One week on, traffic remains 45% higher than usual.

The traffic surge, split evenly between bachelor’s and master’s degrees, was most pronounced in the seven swing states, followed by other Republican-voting states.

“Elections or political decisions often lead to short-lived spikes in regional user interest. But so far, we’ve seen nothing near this magnitude,” said Study.eu CEO Gerrit Bruno Blöss.

“Surges of around 20-30% are common, but they usually flatten down within a few days.”

The PIE News spoke to one high school student from Georgia who, following Trump’s win over Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, is exploring education opportunities overseas.

“Some of my motivations for studying abroad have changed during this election and if anything it’s encouraged me to actually leave the country into a possible better one that actually has a good government that treats their women like normal citizens and does not put us back in time and have us living in fear,” she commented.

The student, who wished to stay anonymous, said that being a student under the Trump administration feels like “everything is a little more uncertain and scary”.

“I don’t feel like I can fully trust what’s happening around me, especially with all the division and hate that’s been stirred up,” she continued.

“It seems like people who aren’t white, straight or rich are constantly being treated like they don’t belong, and that’s definitely felt in schools and on the news. For me, as a young woman, it’s frustrating because I want to feel like my future matters, but everything feels so messed up right now.

Leaving the country to study abroad or go to college somewhere else would be the only way to escape all this negativity

Anonymous high school student from Georgia

“There’s this pressure to fit into a box that doesn’t fit me, and sometimes I feel like leaving the country to study abroad or go to college somewhere else would be the only way to escape all this negativity,” she continued.

“It just feels like there’s so much hostility and division, and I want to go somewhere where I can focus on my education without all of that weighing on me.”

Despite the signals, it remains hard to predict to which extent US students will ultimately leave the country, with Bloss highlighting that European application numbers will likely provide a good indication.

The first relevant deadlines are in mid-January 2025 for popular destinations Sweden and Finland, and January 29, 2025 for undergraduate applications to UK universities – for which official statistics are expected already around mid-February through UCAS.

For most other European countries, applications can be submitted between March and June for a start in fall 2025.

“We’re already seeing universities, especially in the UK, increasing their efforts to attract American students for the next intake,” said Bloss.

Another platform to report a similar trend is Studyportals. The day following Trump’s re-election, the platform experienced a five-fold surge in interest from US students looking to study abroad, including a huge spike in interest for on-campus study outside the US, across all levels.

Destinations such as Ireland, Canada, Sweden, and the UK were of interest to students interested in leaving the US for their education.

Studyportals CEO Edwin Van Rest commented described the rapid shift in interest as “unprecedented.”

“We saw similar trends in the last Trump presidency, but not at this scale,” he said.

“That being said, we will need to see how the trend develops. It would be a positive development to have more US students studying abroad. It would make international education more symmetrical, and international education in general promotes more tolerance, understanding and peace in the world.”