I’ve noticed a significant upsurge in the number of international students driving brand new high end cars to public universities that advertise themselves as great “values” which they appear to be to international students. I don’t mean there are a few of these on the campuses now. I mean a substantial increase.
Despite the higher tuition, and perhaps the advantage to the particular unit that gets to keep a larger amount of money for international students, each student costs state tax payers because tuition does not cover true costs. One school I know has spent significantly on the structure (advisors, supports) needed by the international students which means the cost of each to tax payers is quite a bit higher than a US resident costs tax payers. And of course, they are unlikely to be contributing to pay for the state system before college or after college. So in addition to having a large contingency on campus that does not mingle with US resident (regardless of the reasons), the US tax payers are paying more to have International students attending “best value” schools while driving expensive cars.
My feeling is that tuition should be increased substantially for International students who appear to be admitted with credentials below those of state residents and without the same required scores. Tuition should cover the full price of educating them. Why should US residents be supplementing? What do you think? Hopefully International students will chime in here too. I know they are not all wealthy but a substantial portion at this and other "true value"schools are.
International students at my public university are charged double what state residents are charged in addition to a flat rate per semester fee (called “international student fee”) billed to all students currently holding a visa. I am also pretty certain that international students are required to pay for university health insurance (which is waived for domestic students who are still on their parents’ plan.)
It was also to my understanding that international students receive far less need-based and merit-based aid relative to domestic students; all of the major scholarships offered by my school (including full and half-tuition) require citizenship or legal residency.
As a result, the vast majority of international students at my school are tremendously wealthy since they are the only ones paying full freight. We are a commuter school so international students also have to live in off-campus apartments (as opposed to most of the in-state students who live with families and have housing costs subsidized.) I’m pretty sure most of the international students are paying an upwards of 40,000+ a year for their educational costs at a school where in-state COA is 12,000/year.
As an anecdote - I work as a tutor and teaching assistant and come into contact with international students quite often. One international student I tutor pretty regularly informed me that she is unable to receive any aid (need-based or otherwise) and as a result, she’s attempting to transfer to one of the handful of private schools that give aid to international students (HYPSM, essentially.)
I was in college 09-13. There were plenty of international students driving these cars then, too. I haven’t noticed any major increase lately.
They also paid 50k+ per year for the COA and almost all came from wealthy families. They pay far more than in-state students and I’d guess they’re partly subsidizing in-state students.
Those might not be only international students… Many upper middle class families can’t afford $65k per year at private college, so are sending kids to their state flagship at a $15-20k price and “compensating” the kids with borrowed or new cars.
BMW’s, Porsches, AUDI’s and Mercedes? Those are just their cheap other car when they’re slumming it.
Chinese Kids Driving Supercars: Inside the Secret Southern California Meet-up - YouTube
https://youtu.be/sH8sSKwS_gU
Amazing how much humble civil servants in china earn…
GMTplus7, I think other posters may be out of touch with what is happening in state schools in the US.
First, remember that the families of US residents (I am not distinguishing "citizen from resident, by the way…this is not an anti-immigration thread) have typically paid into their state system for decades before a student even applies for college.
And, the US resident will be paying for the state system for their entire lives. And, if they are OOS they are paying federal taxes. Whatever state school they attend is dependent on both state and federal taxes. In contrast, residents of China pay nothing to support the system before they attend and after they leave. Tuition of ten times the amount paid by US residents would not make up for the amount spent by US residents on the US public university system over the course of their lives.
In addition to the YouTube video listed above, there is a fb page about the cars of International students at one state school system. Also, yes when the students driving the cars speak Chinese it is safe to conclude that they are International students-many of whom purchased their credentials, something that the schools here choose to look the other way about.
There are tons of US residents closed out of US public universities. That should be illegal. I will also go so far as to say that having large groups of students on campus who refuse to speak English and who glom onto each other, is making the public schools less attractive to US residents. The system was built by and designed for US residents. US residents pay the bills.
A few decades ago there was a minority of strong international students and there were more "exchange students’. Now there are large cohorts of internationals students who come to the US because they can buy their credentials and buy there way in. Those types degrade the US schools. US schools can be administered by greedy corrupt administrators who welcome the added money that they get to keep on their campuses ($ a head for each international). I say corrupt because the state tax payers are still subsidizing each international student -but what do the administrators of the local campuses care about that.
I am not talking about all International students. Most who end up at top schools probably earned their slot. Those schools get no benefit from having poorly prepared students with poor English Language Arts skills on their campus. But administrators at many state schools view them as cash cows for their campus-even when each costs the state. Many International students who earned their slot contribute positively to the school climate. But many of those attending the non-flagships and the schools in systems that are not as strong (like NY) purchased their tickets/credentials just like they purchase their expensive cars. I would think that the international students on this site don’t fit this profile-except those inquiring about the prestige value of specific schools.