A quarter of Harvard’s student body is now international. At MIT, it’s nearly a third.
….
Foreign students, the overwhelming majority of whom are either the children of wealthy foreign elites or directly sponsored by their governments, represent a serious source of funding for American colleges, public and private alike.
Source: Why America’s Richest Universities Are Protecting Hate-Filled Foreign Students – Tablet Magazine
This is has been growing for a long time. Even in the 1990s, many of my colleagues were born outside the U.S. but educated at U.S. universities. Some came from wealthy families, some were sponsored by government or employers in pursuing their U.S. education.
Universities like this because:
- It addresses the low fertility rate in the U.S. – which is leading to a shrinking cohort of new students
- International students often pay “full fare” tuition and fees (especially for public universities)
- Increases diversity for diversity metrics
Here is a detailed overview of international student characteristics at the University of California, Berkeley campus. There are almost 8,000 “non-immigrant visa students” at UCB.
Just over 1 million international students were enrolled at U.S. campuses in 2022/2023. Except that same article says California enrolls 1.4 million international students, by itself. Both numbers cannot be true.
