International Student Director Mark Thackaberry said he expects NIU to be host to about 700 foreign students—mostly graduate students—during the 1988-89 school year.

Thackaberry said the students, who come from more than 80 countries, pay out-of-state tuition, which is “relatively expensive”—about three times what an Illinois resident pays.

Tuition and living expenses total about $11,000 yearly for foreign students, so they bring more than diversity to campus, they bring “millions of dollars into Illinois,” Thackaberry said.

Foreign students study at NIU using one of three categories of visas: F1, meaning the student plans to complete a whole area of study and receive a degree from NIU, J1, for students on exchange programs and finally immigrating students who live permanently in the United States and study at NIU.

Most foreign students at NIU belong in the F1 category, Thackaberry said, while “several hundred” are permanent residents and fewer are exchange students.

“NIU’s reputation has grown overseas,” Thackaberry said, accounting for the increase in foreign students from less than 100 in the 1960’s when he started as a foreign student advisor to at least 700 foreign students now.

He said foreign student alumni have returned to their native countries and have “done well. They liked the campus, liked the people. In general, the reputation of the school has grown and, therefore, we’ve attracted students.”

Thackaberry named the music department, Southeast Asian Studies program and the business, law and engineering schools as some of the fields of study most popular among foreign students.

The largest percentage of foreign NIU students comes from Asia while “handfuls” of students come from Europe, Africa and South America.