More than $200,000 of that came from MSU students, according to the report.

During a 10-day foreign trade mission to China and Japan, Snyder promoted Michigan as a tourist and business hotspot, going so far as to call for immigration reforms so foreign students might have a better shot at staying in Michigan after they graduate.

“Our legal immigration system is all messed up,” Snyder said during a recent speech at MSU. “(We) give them a world class education and tell them to get out — that’s dumb.”
But before reform, which has to happen on the federal level through Congress, Snyder aims to push Michigan as a place for tourists, particularly the families of international students visiting their kin.

The state doesn’t appeal to many as a first-time destination ? tourists usually go to one of the two coasts for that.

But the Snyder administration said it could be a popular vacationing spot for those who already have been to the U.S. several times, including the families of international students.

In fact, promoting “Pure Michigan” was a huge part of the trade mission and it seems Snyder won’t stop pushing anytime soon.

In 2013, his administration approved a $4 million increase for the state’s tourism budget, expanding international tourism marketing in Canada, Europe and Asia.

“International students have played an increasingly important role in all our institutions,” said Mike Boulus, executive director of the President’s Council, State Universities of Michigan, an association representing the state’s 15 public universities.

Boulus said they might even help drive tuition prices down in the wake of a decade-long plummet in state aid.

The tuition fees they pay — roughly $49,798 a year, according to MSU ? might offset declining state aid, if they have any effect on tuition at all, Boulus said. He added that the price is really “a function of state aid.”

Rubén Martinez, a professor of sociology at MSU, said, “Any university is already dependent for a portion of their revenue from international students.”

Such enrollment swelled as markets opened abroad and middle classes in developing nations began to grow, Martinez said.

It’s a trend that started 15 years ago, a function of globalization, and one of the reasons MSU’s international enrollment has been rising steadily.

One of the largest groups of students comes from China, as MSU officials have pushed to expand the school?s global reach and international standing.

As states continue to decrease aid to universities, that enrollment continues to climb.

The question, however, is if that could offset the declining public funding enough to halt tuition spikes.

Unfortunately for those paying the price, experts said that’s unlikely.