BOSTON
South Korea may have more “Global Citizens” who can afford to pursue educational and healthcare-related opportunities outside of their home countries, but China and India have more Global Citizens who are actually enrolled in U.S. schools, according to the newly released PYMNTS.com Global Citizen Index.
Based on the study’s findings, this may be due to less parental pressure to study outside of their home countries but having to both earn more and pay more for their education than families living in China or India – the two other countries examined in this study. In South Korea, the high average living cost of $36,101 means a family would need to earn the equivalent of $96,101 in U.S. dollars to maintain their lifestyle and cover the educational costs required to send their children to school in the U.S., compared to $56,233 for Chinese families and $30,889 for families living in India.
This study was done collaboratively with Flywire, a leading provider of high-ticket payment solutions connecting educational and healthcare institutions with consumers in 220 countries. The study creates a benchmark for Global Citizens’ relative income levels in the three countries who have among the greatest concentrations of Global Citizens – China, India and South Korea.
As part of the study, hundreds of confidential online surveys – completed by current and former students who left their home countries to attend school – were analyzed. A common finding was the desirability of the United States as a destination market for school.
One of the Chinese Global Citizens profiled in the report said the opportunity to seek higher education and better career opportunities led him to study abroad and in the U.S. The 22-year-old Tufts University student also noted how China’s policy of limiting the subjects that students can pursue as a major made it difficult for him to pursue his educational ambitions in his home country. Nearly 60 percent of Chinese students cited similar reasons for studying abroad. At 31 percent of all enrolled students in college, Chinese students comprise the largest international student ethnicity in America.
Being a Global Citizen requires the ability to move money from a person or family to a business outside of their home country. These potentially high dollar, low frequency transactions often involved a complicated and expensive series of opaque “hops” between the originating party’s banks and the destination institution.
“Focusing on the consumer and building a strong understanding of the evolving needs and aspirations of Global Citizens is critical to any global company. This learning supports our goal to provide a world-class payment experience for those who require the ability to make cross-border payments for large ticket items like education and healthcare,” says Mike Massaro, CEO of Flywire.
The average cost of a U.S. education costs South Korean students $36,101, Chinese students $32,233, and Indian students $27,090. Annual tuition cost and living expenses when studying abroad were also highest for South Korean students at $54,000, followed by Chinese students ($52,000) and Indian students at $35,000.
Karen Webster, CEO of PYMNTS.com, says this study is an important step in defining who the Global Citizen really is, and how and why they spend their money outside of their own home countries.
“There is a whole new generation of Global Citizen, made possible by the growth of the emerging middle class around the world. This study, we hope, will open everyone’s eyes to the fact that Global Citizens aren’t only those who fly around the world in private jets and give their teen age kids new BMWs for Christmas,” she said, “But people with an interest in providing the very best opportunities for their families wherever those opportunities might be found.”
Additional details, including 14 charts and graphs, can be found in PYMNTS Global Citizen Index.
About PYMNTS.com
PYMNTS.com is reinventing the way in which companies share relevant information about the initiatives that shape the future of payments and commerce and makes news. This powerful B2B platform is the No. 1 site for the payments industry by traffic and the premier source of information about “What’s Next” in payments and commerce. It provides an interactive platform for companies to demonstrate thought leadership, popularize products and, most importantly, capture the mindshare of global decision-makers. For more information, visit the PYMNTS website.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160707005886/en/
CONTACT
PYMNTS.com
Alexander Terzian, 774-219-6132
aterzian@pymnts.com
