[nels]

International students are not displacing Americans; they pay tuition, often at higher rates, and help sustain universities. The real problem is that higher education has been underfunded for years, and the current administration has only made things (much) worse by cutting funding further.

Universities and research are already struggling because of poor leadership and lack of investment, not because of international students. In the 2023-2024 academic year, international student numbers only comprised ~6% of the total U.S. enrollments.

[mixmastamyk]

Tuition has been increasing at a rate much greater than inflation for several decades, largely through price-insensitive loans. The idea that universities are struggling for money is not supported.

We need these Unis to cut costs and administrators. Propping up waste through courting rich foreigners is not a long-term solution.

[nels]

I agree that costs and administrative growth need to be cut, and that relying on international tuition is and should not a long-term fix. But international students are not the primary cause of rising costs or problems in universities as the original comment I responded to implied; tuition inflation, loan structures, and administrative expansion are.

[watwut]

Actually, yes, the state pays less per American student then it used it. That is large component of why the price went up, along with the expectation that universities act like a business.

The loans not being dischargable in bankruptcy does not help, but it was Republicans who were against those reforms.

[whyenot]

Just a counterexample:

At Stanford, 36% of graduate students are international students (2024-2025 AY). While there are very good reasons for this, I think it's hard to argue that international students are not displacing US students, at least in grad school. For undergraduates, the number is 9% (2023-2024 AY). Stanford has tremendous financial resources and a main campus that is more than 12 square miles in size. They could grow the size of their student body if they wanted to.

[nels]

International students at places like Stanford are not displacing Americans. Stanford is one of the top-ranked universities in the world, so the competition pool is global by definition. There is no evidence that equally qualified Americans are rejected in favor of international students. U.S. students remain the majority in both undergraduate and graduate programs.

The real barrier for many Americans is the cost of tuition, not competition with international students. That is where government and universities need to step up with better funding and support. Also, many international students stay in the U.S. after graduating, contributing to the economy and research. The problem is underfunding and poor policy decisions at the national level, not the presence of international students.

[UncleMeat]

A few of the very most prestigious schools have chosen to keep their total enrollment low. In this case, sure, an international student is taking a slot away from a domestic student by having a more impressive resume. Once you leave behind a few highly exclusive schools, this pattern collapses and you just see universities growing their enrollment.

Stanford also has a unique relationship with Palo Alto where it is actually really difficult for them to build new facilities without approval from the surrounding area, but that is very specific to Stanford.

[guyzero]

Stanford is skimming the absolute top students from around the world into its programs. There's more than enough capacity in US schools for the top 10% of US grad students and then the US gets the benefit of also getting the top 10% of other countries' grad students.

Well, that was the case up until this year.

[Analemma_]

I'm not actually sure they could: remember we're talking about California. UC Berkeley, just a few miles northeast, tried to increase their enrollment count and was tangled in years of NIMBY lawsuits from people blocking the construction of additional student housing, using CEQA to claim that students were an environmental hazard.