No, in this case it was not because of the finances but because of the father’s military cadet occupation. Chinese government has stringent restrictions on their officials traveling abroad.
" stringent restrictions on their officials traveling abroad."
Combine that and their precious daughter’s likely future of getting a job and family in the U.S. would make it a very hard decision for the parents.
If I got it right from a recent chat with a chinese government official, they are not allowed to have a passport good for personal travel when they are in office. Once they are retired, they are off the hook.
Not too surprising considering the fact he’s a senior field grade military officer* with knowledge of many critical military secrets/plans as part of his job/rank, but also serious concerns about the possibility he/his family may attempt to defect and serious implications for their military/national security and political legitimacy.
The latter would be very serious as senior PLA officers are one of the most favored constituencies even within the elite echelons of the Chinese Communist Party.
- His PLA rank of "Senior Colonel" would be the equivalent somewhere between Colonel and Brigadier General. In short, he's not typical of many career military officers who did his 20+ years and retires as Major/Lt. Colonel/Colonel.
Article in The Atlantic about Asian-American students being mistaken as int’l students:
The Burden of Being Asian American on Campus
The arrival of Chinese international students comes at a cost to some.
http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/08/common-ancestry-complicated-present/495665/
Add to that the huge range of “third culture kid” varieties–kids who have spent much of their lives in the States and then moved away, kids who have spent their entire lives in international schools and US-ish lifestyles but haven’t lived in the States, Asian-Canadians, everything in between.