While reading “Cultural Commerce,” (SN 2/6) something in the article immediately stood out to me: the increase in Chinese students from 600 in 2006 to 3,012 in 2011. That’s a 400 percent increase over five years. Shocked by such a figure, I decided to further investigate the latest trends in international student enrollment — Chinese and otherwise — at MSU.
From fall 2006 to fall 2011, the size of the incoming freshman class increased from 8,688 to 9,222. At the same time, the number of international students in the freshman class increased from 436 to 1,483. This means that from 2006 to 2011 there was an 11 percent increase in the total number of freshman seats occupied by international students. Now MSU will lead you to believe that this is because of to a number of factors — fostering a more multicultural environment or MSU’s stellar reputation resulting in increased worldwide appeal. The truth is it’s all about the money.
Tuition and housing for the incoming in-state freshman for the 2011-12 year was $20,690, while the cost for an incoming nonresident freshman was $35,896. This means the university can charge 70 percent more to international students than in-state residents.
That nine percent increase in the number of seats going to international students also represents a nine percent decrease in the number of seats available to in-state residents. The university effectively is discriminating against the lower-income, lower-paying in-state residents it was founded to educate in favor of higher-income, higher-paying international students. This could be argued as justifiable if the university was using this increase in revenue to keep costs down for students, even if it came at the expense of opportunities for in-state residents. But as we all know, MSU has continued to inflict some of the highest tuition increases among Michigan universities, to the point of being singled out by state legislators.
This is an issue that displays a clear conflict of interest for the administration between educating Michigan residents and using international students to increase the budget.
Let me emphasize that this is not an attack on multiculturalism. MSU has historically had a strong international student presence that has made valuable contributions. Furthermore, there is no doubt MSU benefits from having students of different backgrounds from all over the world. What this is, is a question of fairness. MSU must stop using international students to bolster the budget at the expense of providing opportunity for the Michigan residents it was founded to serve.
Derek Ashburn, political science senior
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