The Institute of International Education report also reveals that record numbers of U.S. students are supplementing their education with foreign study.

• A record 129,770 U.S. students received college credit for study abroad in 1998-1999 -- a 14 percent increase from the previous year.

• But the students are increasingly spending less time abroad than in the past -- more than half of them electing to take summer, January and other short-term programs instead of programs for the academic year or a semester.

• Some 90 percent of U.S. students studying abroad did so for one semester or less in 1998-1999.

• Brigham Young University sends the most students abroad -- followed by Michigan State University, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Pennsylvania.

Some 68 percent of U.S. students head for Europe -- although the percentage of students studying there has declined steadily since 1985-1986. The percentage of students going to Latin America has doubled since then -- to 15 percent from 7 percent.

Source: Mary Beth Marklein, "More Studying Abroad, But for Less Time," USA Today, November 13, 2000.