“Illinois does have a large international student base, about 17% of undergrads”
Yes. The problem is that these students are a larger proportion of the seats that are allocated to high demand majors in engineering and business that, on average, lead to higher employment and better salaries.
“To increase the number of students that stay in-state, you have to increase capacity (that 48,510 number)”
That is not true. UIUC could stop spending Illinois tax dollars on engineering and business school capacity that they then sell off to China. Now it is often referred to as University of Illinois - University of China. China understands that these job creating jobs majors benefit their broader economy, and is amazed that we, stupidly and shortsightedly, are willing to sell these seats off to them.
In-state students are more likely to be given the “opportunity” to choose from the leftover, less popular majors that, on average, lead to lower salaries, higher underemployment, and higher unemployment.
“Second, I disagree that the campus is “not very attractive”. For those who haven’t been on campus check out the link and decide for yourself. http://www.onlyinyourstate.com/illinois/drone-footage-il/”
I am not talking about architecture that is attractive to 50 year old adults. I am talking about what is attractive to the target market of 17-18 year old students. You don’t often hear potential students saying that the campus really impressed them. It is all about the perception of the customer and what matters to them.
"To me there seems to be two camps where the anger emanates…
(1.) those who didn’t get into their desired major and
(2.) those who do get in with their desired major, but find it unaffordable or less attractive from a cost standpoint."
I would not call it anger. I would say that there is a lot of frustration that stems from having to pay taxes to support seats that are then sold to foreign students, while good in-state or OOS candidates (but still Americans) are disproportionately rejected from majors that have a higher probability of leading to employment and good salaries.
Even for the in-state students that are admitted, UIUC does things that make the school unappealing / unattractive to instate students, both from a cost standpoint, and also from a bureaucratic standpoint, because they would prefer to sell that seat to a foreign student at a higher price.
Both of my college students were admitted to engineering, D1 to CS, and D2 to ChemE, but both are attending elsewhere because of bureaucratic UIUC policies that cause it to be unappealing and uncompetitive to in-state students, even when they are admitted. UIUC’s game is to get in-state tax dollars because citizens want an affordable world-class public university in-state, then try to make it as unattractive as possible to instate students who are admitted go elsewhere and they can sell the seat to foreigners to get more money to support the bloated and inefficient bureaucracy.
“So while I understand why these people vent, it doesn’t take away from the opportunities and the quality of the experience for those who are fortunate enough to attend UIUC.”
I am glad the Chinese are having a great experience and a good time on my nickel.