"In-state tuition: $10,000
Out-of-state tuition: $25,000
International student tuition: $50,000".
going on. Being the world's academy is one of our most overlooked, but most significant industries. Eliminate the moneymakers trying to escape the Gaokao and the cash has to come from somewhere; It certainly isn't going to be this administration.
These top universities already have enough money to operate for a century as non-profits.
They're selling 15-20% of the seats to international rich people.
The appropriate number is probably more like 1.5% - 2.0%, with the rest going to American citizens.
If you get rid of international students then domestic student tuition will increase and/or campus services offered will decline.
Universities do not want to decrease their endowment. They want to find ways to grow it. And another goal is to increase the international reputation of their institutions. Here international students act like a kind of missionary.
They have lost their way. They have been corrupted by bribes heaped upon them by rich international people buying their children advantage.
This is only true for a few elite universities.
In particular, for public universities, the vast majority, including many/most of the top ones, do not have any cap on the amount of incoming students. Whoever meets the bar gets in.
All private and public top schools set admission targets and hit them every year using modeling and adjusting various levers.
There are a tiny number of seats at elite schools and that's how they remain the elite schools.
Source: Local state university in an interview. This came up during the issue of affirmative action. They pointed out (with actual statistics) on how most of them have open admission. The context was that admitting someone via affirmative action was not depriving anyone of a seat.
This was for "regular" undergrad admission. Grad school/business/law/medicine (perhaps pre-med) may be different.
All of these schools have quotas and admission targets and effectively raise/lower the bar to hit their targets.
Just look at the numbers for yourself.
Most of them admit an almost identical number of students each year. The admission rate is what changes.