Being a student is complicated. As if studying, socialising and catering for yourself was not tricky enough, Chinese students in the US also have to cope with a trade war. They are a big source of income for US colleges — and a big source of worry for some homeland security hawks.
US colleges enrolled a record 1.1m foreign students in the 2018-2019 academic year, according to the Institute of International Education. Of these, more than a third, or 370,000, were from mainland China. That compares with less than 100,000 just a decade ago. China is now the single biggest source of overseas students for American universities.
Well-off Chinese students clamour for the prestige of a US degree. American colleges — facing dwindling state financial support — have been only too happy to court them.