International students need better options at home

As fall arrives, students around the world set up their Common Application accounts and prepare to spill their hearts out on the pages of their personal statements. Many from overseas will apply to American universities in hopes of joining the 966,333 international students who U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement reports are already in the United States. This whopping figure suggests that the worldwide appeal of American universities appears to be stronger than ever, despite the increasing cost of attending college in the States — particularly for international students who do not qualify for federal financial aid. Though international students often still decide to pay full tuition, their willingness to pay so large a sum reflects both the superiority of American universities and the need for overseas higher education systems to meet higher standards.

Deena Baum | Daily Trojan

For years, many American universities have been reaching out to international students by sending alumni abroad to hold information sessions to sell students on the best parts of the American college life: spacious campuses, beautiful weather, state-of-the-art facilities and endless clubs and activities. Though American universities initiate this marketing overseas, they really only have to meet the international students halfway.

There is a self-perpetuated hype about American universities that is particularly prominent in Asia. The cutthroat process of applying to a brand-name American university pressures parents into paying sky-high amounts of money to college prep agencies for a supposed better chance of admission.

For some Chinese students, the application process could potentially cost as much as tuition for a semester or even a school year in college, as these agencies target the popular desire to study overseas for higher education and pin ridiculously high price tags to their services. These charges can range anywhere from a flat $5,000 fee to roughly $10,000 per application, depending on the prestige of the college prep agency and the admission difficulty of the school applied to. To deal with the exorbitant sums before the university sends the tuition bill can be overwhelming to even think about.

If so many international students are coming here for college despite the financial burden, however, it must mean that American universities are doing something right — or that universities elsewhere are doing something wrong.

For many international students, studying abroad in the United States is an opportunity to gain an advantage in the job market back home. Fluency in English, an understanding of American culture and experience at the world’s top research universities can go a long way in standing out among countless other applicants who do not have the same experience.

But what is perhaps more crucial to the steady increase of international students are the push factors. By taking a look at the extremely competitive and rigid education systems in China, India and South Korea, the three countries that have the most international students in the United States, it isn’t too difficult to understand why a student would prefer the American system.

In a 2011 New York Times blog post titled, “To Indian Students, Harvard’s Admission Rate May Appear Almost Welcoming,” the intense but low-profile admission rates of Indian universities are brought to light. The blog states that the Indian Institute of Technology have an acceptance rate of less than 2 percent for pools of half a million applicants. Another New York Times article explores the case of an excelling Indian student Moulshri Mohan, who was offered a scholarship to Dartmouth University but was rejected by Delhi University, one of India’s top schools.

Likewise, in China, students dedicate countless hours to preparing for the National Higher Education Entrance Examination, the single deciding factor for admission to Chinese colleges. This pressures many students to spend more than 12 hours in school every day or risk falling behind their peers. There is exam preparation before and after school, as well as on the weekends, often throughout all of high school. Even though it is a regular way of life for many students, this intensive method takes its toll on the physical and mental well-being of the student.

Though it can be expensive to pay for education in the United States, the influx of international students shows that many people still think it to be the better option. What parents are investing in is not just their child’s future career, but also the physical and mental stability of their child. It is not necessary to dish out tens of thousands of dollars for an agency to help get into an Ivy League school, but if it’s within the parents’ means to send their child to an American university, it would be worth the high tab of tuition.

At the same time, this is not a sustainable trend for the near future if bright minds continue to leave the country. At the end of the day, reforming the education system is the ultimate solution. This might be particularly difficult for China, where the culture of high-pressure examinations has been prevalent for years. Moreover, with the sheer number of students in China, it would be very difficult to establish a holistic application process like that of the United States. That doesn’t mean the Chinese government can’t take action to move away from the rigid, hierarchical arrangement of their domestic universities, however.

With proper reform, studying abroad could come to mean a choice to travel and understand more about other cultures — rather than a necessity for better quality education.