SUNY may well be looking at this from a system-wide standpoint. Yes, an increase in international admissions at the university centers may be ‘bumping’ some in-state students out of those schools, but those students can then fill seats at Cortland, Oneonta, New Paltz, etc. A few students may be bumped from those schools down to Brockport, Oswego, etc., and on down the line. Eventually SUNY will possibly retain many of these students and fill empty seats in some of its lower-rung schools, while also increasing the selectivity at SBU, UB, U-Albany and Bing and making these schools more attractive to in-state students who have choices and maybe OOS kids also.
Bumping NY residents to lower ranked SUNYs (objectively or student preferences) is unaccpetable. NY state schools were not intended as places for Chinese to get educated. That is not the deal that NY tax payers sign onto when they send their money to Albany. There is no reason for NY to be educating Chinese students since it increases total cost for NYers. If Chinese families want their children educated they should consider setting up an educational system in China. And if that means some SUNYs need to close then that should happen.
There is no reason to maintain a system if it is not needed for NY residents. SUNY started to expand and build cush dorms after there was clear evidence that the number of potential NY students was going to be lower not larger. It is then not compelling to argue that they had no knowledge of the future numbers and we now need to educate China.
Incidently, don’t mistake what I am saying for racism. I am not talking about US residents whose ancestors lived in other countries but who are NY residents. I’m not taking about so-called “Chinese-Americans” or “Asian-Americans”. Students graduating from NY schools are NYers and have a right to be educated in NY schools and should have priority over any other student and especially over those from other countries. I oppose any quota system that limits the number of any particular type of student on the basis of ancestors place of origin, race,physical characteristics and the like. I’m opposed to importing foreign students except on a limited basis, and certainly not for the sake of allowing local SUNYs to earn descretionary income while NY tax payers foot the bill.
Percentage of international students at SUNY University Centers
Albany: Undergrad: 6%. Grad: 18%. Total: 9%.
Binghamton: Undergrad: 10%. Grad: 40%. Total: 16%.
Buffalo: Undergrad: 17%. Grad: 33%. Total: 22%.
Total: Undergrad: 12%. Grad: 26%. Total: 17%.
All SUNY University Centers: Undergrad: 12%. Grad: 29%. Total: 17%.
BU student breakdown 2014-15
University total: 76% in-state. 8% out of state. 16% international. 115 countries represented.
Undergraduates: 81% in-state. 9% out of state. 10% international. 96 countries represented.
Graduate students: 54% in-state. 6% out of state. 40% international. 76 countries represented.
http://www.pressconnects.com/story/news/education/2015/01/24/binghamton-university-growth/22230625/
Higher than I thought! Stony Brook had 437 nonresident aliens in the freshman class this year.
Collectively there are thousands of slots that are given to nonresident aliens instead of to NY tax payers, the very people who the system was developed to serve and the very people who pay into the system their entire lives. Instead slots are given to nonresident aliens, some of whom have faked credentials. Apparently many of the Chinese students are those that were rejected by their own educational system. That explains why some can barely speak in English. Must be a boon to the paper writing companies.
If you’re concerned about state taxpayers subsidizing out of state college students, the University of Michigan and Penn State -University Park have far higher percentages of ‘outsiders’ taking up seats than Buffalo does. UB looks comparable to the University of California system with between 20 and 25 percent of students coming from outside of the state.
Except out of state students pay about 30,000 more each year at Michigan then do OOS students at SUNY schools.
The university centers have to start somewhere. Michigan wasn’t always in high demand nationally - they purposely began working to attract more OOS students in the 1970’s and 1980’s specifically for the higher tuition dollars in order to gain greater independence from the state budgeting process. I understand the concern about where state tax dollars are being spent (I’m a New York homeowner and taxpayer too) but sometimes you need to spend money to make money.
JayDee12, NY has been trying for as long to simply keep NYers from going to Michigan, without success. This is not a new issue and NY is not just now trying to attract OOS.