Isn’t it absurd that American universities spend tens of thousands of dollars educating some foreign students, only for many of them to leave the country after graduation? For some reason, it has become perfectly acceptable to deny Americans admission to their own elite schools so universities can educate the future political and economic leaders of other countries, including China.
As of this year, 1.7 million international students are enrolled in American higher education. They are not merely filling empty seats. They have become a major presence in some of the country’s most competitive programs. Foreign students make up 63% of Yale’s School of Engineering, 94% of Harvard’s master’s program in comparative law, and 30% of Columbia’s student body.
Many of these students also receive generous financial aid from elite American schools, despite not qualifying for federal student aid. Three out of four Dartmouth international students pay, on average, less than $10,000 a year in tuition. Harvard spent $60 million on 741 international students in 2024, leaving them with an average out-of-pocket tuition cost of just $13,000. How many American families get an Ivy League education at that price?
To make matters worse, less than half of international students stay in America long-term. Whether because of visa complications, better opportunities elsewhere, or a desire to return home, many of these highly educated graduates take their skills to foreign workforces. American universities, meanwhile, have little incentive to stop them.
That must change.
Students’ citizenship status and long-term plans should matter to universities, policymakers, and taxpayers. If American students are being rejected so that foreign students can receive a globally recognized education, universities should at least be expected to show that this arrangement benefits the United States.
That cannot be solved by admissions offices alone. Congress should stop granting student visas as if they are entitlements and begin tying them to America’s national interest. At a minimum, visas and university incentives should be structured to favor students who intend to remain in the U.S. after graduation and contribute to the American economy.
TRUMP’S VERY PUBLIC INNER DIALOGUE ON IRAN
Even if many foreign students are highly qualified, their admission should not automatically take priority over American students. When an American university gives a foreign student a subsidized, world-class education, only for that student to return home and strengthen another country’s economy, America has lost more than a classroom seat. It has lost an opportunity to invest in its own children.
American universities should serve American students and American interests first. Anything less is a betrayal of the country that built them.