A review of literature and statistics explores international student flows in a global information age and notes a connection between the GDP of a sending nation and the number of international students coming to the United States from that nation during the following year. The researcher interviewed education agents in China, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam to examine the influences of financial factors, educational prestige and quality, policy and government, marketing and communications, and familiarity or family connection as a student or family considers study abroad options. Findings suggest: (a) financial factors allow students to afford study abroad and reward these same students in the job market; (b) educational program prestige and quality are often contradictory and may misrepresent the standard it intends to measure; (c) sending nations, not the United States, may be restricting student visas; (d) marketing and communication are effective when personalized and connected with the factor of alums, school staff, and current students or parents; and (e) there is support for brain mobility versus the brain drain as students are drawn to the advantages of an emerging economy.