It may be surprising to hear, but state governments around the country are ahead of the curve in at least one facet of higher education.
As foreign enrollment in American schools rapidly increases, our state universities are the primary recipients of the cash cows that are flowing into the United States seeking higher education.
A report from the Institute of International Education points out that a record number of foreign students are coming to America to attend college. They account for 3.9 percent of the student population.
This coincides with decreasing enrollment in private institutions in the wake of the Great Recession, presenting state schools like LSU the opportunity to swoop in and woo the foreign students who are willing to pay full price for their education.
In September, international student Rachel Roy lambasted the University’s policies in a letter to the editor. She brought up solid points that we are wanting when it comes to scholarships and housing to accommodate our foreign students.
LSU needs to embrace the burgeoning population and expand it by giving students opportunities they may not find at other schools. The payoff will be worth it.
Here’s why: International students account for a $24 billion bump to the economy, and 70 percent of these students attend only 200 colleges and universities in the country, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Of the top 25, 18 are public universities. This makes sense considering that these students often pay full price, and state schools typically have lower tuition than private ones.
It should be this University’s mission to recruit foreign students and pump their money into our floundering state treasury.
We just need to follow the lead of schools like the University of Southern California and Purdue University, two large public schools that rank among the top four in luring foreign talent.
Even Northern State University in South Dakota — with a meager enrollment of 3,300 — capitalizes on this trend by sending staff to foreign countries and expanding free application periods.
In the modern university system, it has become the survival of the fittest. America’s colleges are clambering to cash in on the near record graduation rates from U.S. high schools.
However, these rates peaked in 2011 and are expected to drop or remain steady until 2024.
This poses major problems for smaller, private universities that have already been hit hard by the recession. They suffer from higher tuition and low endowments, not to mention a 10 percent drop in freshman enrollment between 2010 and 2012, in more than a quarter of private schools.
This means they have to cut staff and in some cases, consider options like mergers, to simply stay afloat.
Sucks for them.
The fortunate news is that while LSU has seen drastic cutbacks in the past few years, we are in a position to aggressively expand enrollment to a demographic that is more than happy to pay out-of-state tuition on top of extra international fees. That is, if we offer some concessions.
As a beneficiary of TOPS, I believe that it is a state’s duty to provide higher education for its highest achieving citizens. By expanding foreign enrollment, we will also be expanding the state’s ability to provide this necessity.
For heaven’s sake, if foreign students from China, India and South Korea are willing to travel to South Dakota and pay $15,000, how hard could it be to lure them to the warm, lush environment of our illustrious Tigers?
It is a dog-eat-dog world when it comes to higher education across the country, and while some universities wither away, we need to embrace globalization and rush to the forefront of foreign student proliferation.
It’s time to cash in, this school deserves it.
Eli Haddow is a 20-year-old English and history major from New Orleans.