Is a Green Card a Golden Ticket?

Chinese parents whose children attend high school in the United States often ask me about the advantages US citizenship might offer their children in the college admissions process. Even with the Supreme Court verdict that race can play no role in admissions, citizenship is still fair game. Thus, theirs is an excellent question but one that requires examination of many variables. For the sake of this argument, I will focus on admission trends in the University of California system, as those schools are most germane to the interests and goals of this demographic.

Still, I must first provide historical context to fully understand the unique luxury that the UC schools enjoy. They, like their counterparts in other states, are quite amenable to international students. It was the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign that established a perennial trend for state universities to actively woo international applicants. The University of Illinois began recruiting students from China in 1909. Today, it has the largest Chinese population among American universities—a full 12 percent of its student body. Significant evidence supports the claim that they did so to offset budget cuts from state governments, in addition to attracting excellent students in STEM. UIUC has a tiered tuition system that currently costs $17,572–$22,836 (tuition and fees) for Illinois residents, $36,068–$43,894 for non-residents, and $36,998–$46,944 for international students. That fiscal differential speaks for itself. Moreover, as a land-grant university, UIUC offered the pragmatic, career-oriented majors that Chinese applicants seek. By definition, land-grant schools (state schools with the added benefit of the land and entitlements from the Morrill Act) are required by law to educate on topics deemed important for the general livelihood of the state: most notably engineering and agricultural sciences. Thus, the successful recruitment of international students has been a win-win for UIUC’s budget and for several generations of UIUC-educated Chinese scientists and engineers. In addition, this dynamic has provided that university international name recognition. Nearly every Asian student I work with as a college counselor includes UIUC on their college lists, often at the behest of their parents.

No collective of state schools has quite the name recognition as those in the UC system. First and foremost, it boasts four schools in US News and World Report’s top 30 National Universities (UC-Berkeley, UCLA, UC-Davis, UC-San Diego) and seven in the top 30 public institutions (UC-Berkeley, UCLA, UC-Davis, UC-San Diego, UC-Santa Barbara, UC-Irvine, UC-Merced). In California, the land-grant designation belongs to the University of California system, which began at Berkeley. Thus, UC-Berkeley, tied for number one in public school rankings, stands as the most prestigious land-grant university in the country, offering cachet AND a utilitarian education.

China is a face culture, conscious of both reputation and honor. The concept of “face” (面子) is far more deeply rooted in China than in other cultures. “Face” means what you do, and what people say about what you do. What’s on the surface suggests what’s underneath. Achievements conflate with character. In other words, a Berkeley-educated person is both smart and honorable.

Who wouldn’t pay for this prestige? There is indeed a price. In-state real/direct tuition in California is $19,236, while the cost for out-of-state students (international students included) is $53,436. In addition, out-of-state students receive no financial aid, which is reserved solely for in-state students.

A note: I have been a college counselor for many years, but not with the kind of volume that can generate accurate statistics of my own. Instead, I rely on external sources. I am obsessed with numbers and spend a great deal of time determining patterns, but, from year to year, I do not work with the same types of students applying to the same types of schools. Thus, when speaking from experience, my observations are anecdotal rather than statistical. The following argument is anecdotal in nature.

In the United States, why would a student from North Carolina, admitted to both UNC-Chapel Hill and UC-Berkeley, opt to pay three times more for a similar education? The admissions office at UC-Berkeley knows they won’t, and so are far more likely to admit a qualified student from China over a qualified student from North Carolina. This is not mere speculation; enrollment management in admissions takes many forms, and admissions offices have their methods for identifying who will say yes and who will not. In addition, in my experience, the out-of-state students I sent to UC schools, because of their financial resources, would have paid at least that amount if not more at a prestigious private school. The UC schools do ask students to report family income on their applications—those numbers have their meaning.

Moreover, because of rising costs in all sectors, the UC schools need tuition for their operational budgets. “Berkeley is facing financial challenges because our two primary sources of operating revenue — tuition and state funding — have not kept pace with increases in the costs of goods, services and labor,” [Berkeley spokesperson Dan] Mogulof said in an email. According to Mogulof, the main cause of this growing divide between revenue and costs is recent increases to compensation for faculty, staff and graduate students. Thus, students who pay out-of-state tuition are essential to running Berkeley’s daily operations and paying its overworked faculty and staff.

I do not mean to suggest that UC-Berkeley et al. accept students solely because they can pay full tuition. However, I am suggesting that UC-Berkeley has the luxury to accept fully qualified students who can also pay full tuition.

About 1 million Chinese students study abroad now. That represents a cash cow for the lucky institutions that draw them. Thousands of Chinese students apply to UC-Berkeley, and hundreds of them are accepted, fully ready to pay full tuition. For every Chinese student that matriculates, a lecturer gets paid.

Simple as that. A mere matter of numbers.

To return to the question of the advantage of citizenship, keep in mind that Asians currently comprise 15.5% of California’s population, over twice the national share, and that population grew by over 25% in the last decade. The children in those families, when they matriculate to college, will pay a fraction of what their international counterparts pay.

The logical implication is that Chinese nationals are supplanting Chinese Americans (and many other qualified candidates) for coveted spots at the top UC schools. The undergraduate population at UC-Berkeley is roughly 35% Asian, so there seem to be no quotas in place. Thus, in answer to your question: don’t get a green card, if admission to the top UC schools—or 面子—is your goal.

Below you will find statistics for international applications for US schools. The swings at UC-Berkeley and UCLA bear watching for the next cycle.

2023 Fall Data

Just for international students

• UCB: 21,909 applied, 1,129 admitted. Acceptance rate of 5.15%, up about 0.3% from last year
• UCLA: 22,068 applied, 1,344 admitted. Acceptance rate of 6.1%, up about 0.3% from last year
• UCSB: 17,569 applied, 3,847 admitted. Acceptance rate of 21.9%, up 2.2% from last year
• UCI: 19,255 applied, 6,260 admitted. Acceptance rate of 32.5%, up 11.0% from last year
• UCSD: 21,969 applied, 3,906 admitted. Acceptance rate of 17.8%, up 2.3% from last year
• UCD: 18,098 applied, 9,011 admitted. Acceptance rate of 49.8%, up 6.8% from last year

Just for Chinese students

• UCB: about 219 Chinese students admitted this year, last year’s number was 316, a 30.7% decrease from last year
• UCLA: about 250 Chinese students admitted this year, last year’s number was 330, a decrease of 24.2% from last year
• UCSB: about 597 Chinese students admitted this year, last year’s number was 840, a 28.9% decrease from last year
• UCSD: about 281 Chinese students admitted this year, last year’s number was 312, a decrease of 9.94% from last year
• UCI: about 528 Chinese students admitted this year, last year’s number was 441, an increase of 19.7% from last year
• UCD: about 1,034 Chinese students admitted this year, last year’s number was 855, an increase of 20.9% from last year

Originally published November 12, 2023.