By Steve Levy
When we saw the US News & World Report article on which U.S. colleges offer the most financial aid to foreign students, we nearly fell off our chairs.
We have long been critical of our universities, especially state-financed universities, allocating up to 25% of their seats to international students.
But now we see that some of these colleges are actually giving money as subsidies to these foreign students to attend U.S. universities.
Now let’s be clear: this is not taxpayer money that’s going to these foreign students. But all money is fungible.
When a university starts giving subsidies to foreigners, that’s less money in the overall pot. That means American students must pay more to make up the difference.
A private university has every right to spend its money on a foreign student, but American taxpayers can counter by noting that no taxpayer dollars will go to a university that engages in this ridiculous practice.
Many of these universities have rich endowments. Shouldn’t their endowments and other finances be restricted toward helping American students?
It’s time for Congress to put its foot down and tell these colleges that, while they can open their enrollment to anyone they desire, they should not be expecting federal dollars to go into their coffers when they’re shipping money out to students who are not American residents.