Updated: Comprehensive 2011 report on international students at UO available here. Thanks, reader.
2/9/2012: This year UO will have 2017 international students. They pay $27,853 each in regular session tuition and fees, plus say another $20,000 for housing, travel, summer, etc. Some are GTF’s, so let’s round both numbers down a little and say 2000 students at $45,000 per. That’s $90 million Oregon receives, for exports of services to the student’s home countries, mostly China.
Is that a lot? Well, in 2010 Oregon earned a total of $491 million from wood product exports. Wood exports are up this year – also mostly to China – and the number of international students is also growing quickly.
Bottom line, UO is bringing significant and growing amounts of money to the Oregon economy from exporting our AAU quality college educations. Plus we are using the revenue to subsidize degrees for Oregon residents. These are smart students and their careers will connect them and Oregon to the global economy. Demand is high and this looks like a sustainable long range plan for UO – particularly if we stay in the AAU!
Are you including AEI students in that count?
If UO is anything like OSU, there are lot more international students on GTFs than you think, and GTFs cost money.
That said, even if you halve this number, $45 million is still a pretty decent chunk of change.
Sorry to rain on the parade, but you also need to take costs of various kinds into account. Here’s an article from the Chronicle that suggests a few:
http://chronicle.com/article/Chinese-Students-Prove-a/129628/