Spending by foreign college students in Georgia directly and indirectly supports 7,239 jobs and adds a half-billion dollars to the state's economy, according to a report by the Institute of International Education.

Students spend up to $500.9 million on tuition, fees and living expenses in 2012-2013. This is a 7.5 percent increase, or rather, $38 million.

The state's five top host institutions are Georgia Tech, Emory University, University of Georgia, Savannah College of Art & Design and Georgia State University.

According to GlobalAtlanta.com, the majority of foreign college students hail from China, Brazil and Saudi Arabia. Overall there are 819,644 International students in the U.S. and they spend nearly $24 billion.