Today, more than 800,000 international students attend American colleges and universities, more than 46,000 of them in Massachusetts. Schools are expecting a spike this fall. This trend has implications both for international and domestic students.
Kirk Carapezza and Mallory Noe-Payne report at our On Campus blog:
International students don't qualify for financial aid in the U.S. and Debra Zhang's immediate family couldn't afford the full $130,000 for her two-year master's degree. So other relatives picked up the tab.
"My aunt-in-law said, 'Well, just go ahead I will support you," Zhang said. "My mom also supported, almost all her savings."
Zhang isn't alone, the vast majority of international students are paying full-freight. Most in the U.S. come from India, South Korea and Saudi Arabia but above all, China.
"Essentially schools are doing more one-stop shopping in China, because it's easy," said Parke Muth, the former director of international admissions at the University of Virginia.
According to Muth, colleges and universities in the U.S. have become addicted to these full-paying international students.
Read more at On Campus
