February 9, 2015

US Colleges Giving More Money to Foreign Students

American colleges are looking to provide more scholarship and grant money to foreign students, particularly from China, in order to economically diversify their international student population:

US Colleges Seek Economic Diversity Internationally

In the Associated Press article, there is only one reader comment at the bottom but it tells the other side of story, "what about the poor American students?" It probably sounds great in principle to give more money to poor students in other countries to study in the US, but considering how huge the student debt load is for American college students, one would think there would be some kind of uproar from US students to get a larger piece of the financial assistance pie. Instead, it doesn't seem like any students are complaining perhaps because they figure they will be able to pay back all those loans one day after they find a well-paying job (good luck). American students at most US colleges and universities are a pretty cowed bunch when it comes to challenging their administrations on boondoggles and runaway spending on useless administrative and staff positions. It's still a bit shocking that even money does not motivate them to speak out and question administrative decision-making. Perhaps because they see themselves as such transient populations that they will be gone soon enough before any substantive changes would be made. That is a pity. It may be noble to give more money (and precious seats at prestigious institutions like Harvard, Yale, Stanford, etc.) to foreign students, but American students could use more help as well. In essence, US college financial magnaminity should not come at the cost to US students who foot an ever-increasing tuition bill.