Why colleges in European countries and Canada are much cheaper? I have just heard that the tuistion of U. Cambridge is only about $15,000, (just attended a local college fair for independent schools and Cambridge rep was there), also considering it is only a three-year education, it might be cheaper to go to London (even with room and board and travel expenses), than to full-pay American privates.
International students have been growing tremendously over the past several years, they all have to pay the full-sticker price, granted they might make the already competitive college-application landscape worse, they do also help some schools financially viable.