<p>Think being a middle class international student in general is tough. Native countries have over crowded schools and in America you receive little if any financial aid.</p>
<p>From talking to my international friends I gathered generally if you can afford an American degree you get an American degree even if you want to go back to your country later on. With that said, most internationals I met over the years from my school and others come for very wealthy backgrounds.</p>
<p>Ok correction upper middle class, if words matter so much. But my point is you see affluence everywhere in terms of people able to afford apartments upwards of 50 lacs, the number of malls, the electronics stores, how for instance last year the upper end of LCD from samsung was oversold at it’s launch with a delivery waiting period of 2-3 months [the Dealer’s version]. I am not for a minute saying that ours is a rich country, we have not been able to do much for our underprivileged. But that is another discussion. </p>
<p>Like I said affordability and one more factor that comes to my mind is that the educated also have less number of children. A lot of them are single child families which was unheard of a generation back. So that in turn influences one’s spending power.</p>
<p>Also all those who go abroad don’t pay fee of 50+ lac/year. The tuition fee starts from 15 lac/ year. Trust me there are millions who can afford that.</p>
<p>Also you make a good point that it is tough for some. But but look at it from point of view of generation before them. They could not even dream of this. So this cycle will go on. The ones roughing it out, their children will be the ones who will have it easy. I hope and pray so.</p>
<p>I’d have to agree with anialways. The spending power of an average Indian family has grown quite a bit over the past few years.</p>
<p>@ #22, your "underprivileged would be the 76 odd percent of Indians who live on under $2/day?</p>
<p>I don’t know where that information comes from UKDude, but it’s definitely not true.</p>
<p>@UKdude, please do some research and not base your opinions on the poverty stricken pictures of India you see on TV here.
[McKinsey</a> & Company - Next Big Spenders: India’s Middle Class](<a href=“http://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/mginews/bigspenders.asp]McKinsey”>http://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/mginews/bigspenders.asp). (41% of the population = 500+ million people projected in next 10 years) , India’s middle class is double the entire size of the entire population of US+canada. Why do you think multi-nationals are tapping into the market there? Folks can clearly afford the lifestyle. If Indians have the money to afford education here, all power to them.
<a href=“Business News Today: Read Latest Business news, India Business News Live, Share Market & Economy News | The Economic Times”>Business News Today: Read Latest Business news, India Business News Live, Share Market & Economy News | The Economic Times;
<p>I’m sorry but the UNDP lists the figures I stated. Under $2, 75.6%, under $1 is listed as 42 odd percent here:</p>
<p>[Population</a> under $1 a day statistics - countries compared - NationMaster Economy](<a href=“http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/eco_pop_und_1_a_day-economy-population-under-1-day]Population”>http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/eco_pop_und_1_a_day-economy-population-under-1-day)</p>
<p>Yes India has a big middle class but it also has the most poor in the world. </p>
<p>India’s pop is about 1.2 bn, so if 400 m are “ok”, that’s a market the size of the EU. Still means 800 are poor as hell. Hell, 700 m people have to defecate outside in India.</p>
<p>[Human</a> Development Report 2009 - Population living below $2 a day (%)](<a href=“http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/indicators/103.html]Human”>http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/indicators/103.html)</p>
<p>Human Development Report stats. 75.6 %.</p>
<p>@UKdude - you are missing the point. You are bent on disparaging India. The point of this post is there are potentially 100+ million indians who are able to afford vacations abroad, live a comfortable life and sent their kids for education abroad. And the middleclass projection of 500+ million middle-class (in the next decade or two) is what is driving multinational companies to tap into the market there. And US/UK economy is in a slippery slope right now and US companies are definitely looking to tap into the market there.</p>
<p>Like I said India’s poor is a topic of another discussion. Sure poverty is a topic which needs to addressed. That is not what this thread is all about. You are mixing the two issues.</p>
<p>I have no beef with India, just showing you guys data from neutral sources. Yes India is growing, good for it, but it is still the apex of global poverty.</p>
<p>100 million doing well, 800 million starving. Keep a balance.</p>
<p>This is really bad news for students in the USA. Competition is on the rise. We should stop indian students coming to the usa, this is ridiculous. Why doesn’t India ever control its population…</p>
<p>I’ve been looking over some doctorate programs in marketing (nothing top-tier, many of the colleges are much lesser-known that I’m considering), and I’ve found that 90%+ of the current grad students are Indian, or in a few cases European, with only perhaps 1 or 2 students holding an undergrad/masters degree from a US institution. That is quite disheartening to know that my chances for acceptance are very, very low based on what seems to be a preference for international students. </p>
<p>The funny thing is, when I was looking at doctorate programs in social psychology it was the opposite, and typically the few international students were Chinese or Japanese, not Indian or European, or from anywhere else for that matter. </p>
<p>I thought perhaps it had to do with international students receiving less funding than US students, and colleges/departments just trying to cut costs where possible? I have no problem with international students being admitted to US programs, but when it means that US students have even lower chances for acceptance, it is a little worrisome. Schools that I thought I was likely to be admitted to as a psych student now seem unattainable as a marketing student.</p>
<p>UKdude84 - your posts have no relevance to the topic of this thread.</p>
<p>Motorsport - can you expound your theory of why this is really bad new for US students? Are you aware that international admissions numbers (quotas) are usually separate from US students?</p>
<p>NovaLynnx - Just because you found that 90%+ students are Indian, you deduced that there must be a preference for international students? Why don’t you think that may be there are much fewer US students even trying for those specific programs where as internationals are flocking? You contradicted yourself by quoting the other doctorate program where there are much fewer internationals.</p>
<p>Wait a minute, the number of international students admitted are 5-10%, they do NOT replace american students. Most universities tend to keep that 10% for diversity. And out of that 10%, only 1% may be indians. Like Stanford got 300 students from 150 countries, out of that only couple may be from India (and they are the very best and brightest).
In this global economy, the benefits are two fold.</p>
<p>[Corporate-India-plays-guru-to-US-academia</a> :](<a href=“http://www.ausib.org/Corporate-India-plays-guru-to-US-academia_868_AUSIB-News.html]Corporate-India-plays-guru-to-US-academia”>http://www.ausib.org/Corporate-India-plays-guru-to-US-academia_868_AUSIB-News.html)
Some of the big corporate executives in India are giving away big endowments back to the US universities.</p>
<p>What goes around comes around. <a href=“http://www.rediff.com/business/slide-show/slide-show-1-five-indians-donate-millions-to-us-universities/20101110.htm[/url]”>http://www.rediff.com/business/slide-show/slide-show-1-five-indians-donate-millions-to-us-universities/20101110.htm</a> </p>
<p>“Ratan Tata, gifted $50 million to his alma mater, the Harvard Business School, to give back to the school - in his words - a little bit of what it had given him.”</p>
<p>“Ambani started the trend of Indian business tycoons making donations to Ivy League universities by giving $8 million to Stanford.”</p>
<p>My posts were in reply to others. Dont cry cos the data shatters your myth.</p>
<p>brutallyhonest:</p>
<p>I know how the education system and acceptance rates are like. Indians only care about good education and money, nothing else. Indians coming to the USA will increase competition among USA, legal immigrants and foreign students. And eventually, hate crimes will be on the rise.</p>
<p>Lol Indians only care about money? Clearly you’ve been watching too much comedy bro</p>
<p>@motorsport - you should be scared of the Chinese too
[China</a> Surges Past India as Top Home of Foreign Students - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/15/us/15international.html]China”>China Surges Past India as Top Home of Foreign Students - The New York Times)</p>
<p>morpheous44:</p>
<p>money is the most important thing in the world.</p>