zlacker

>(1) how much of these people's education or experience was subsidized by the American economy

I suspect that US actually profits off of foreign students, atleast thats what I've heard informally (since we have to pay much higher fees than natives), but I've never checked the fees to be honest.

In a profitable system, its a fair assumption that those who pay the most make atleast some contribution to profits right?

>>friedB+(OP)
Absolutely - if the cost you pay offsets your cost to the economy it's win-win. My question/concern is primarily around the students who receive some form of net subsidy from the US economy.

>>ryania+31
TBH, another factor to be kept in mind is that most foreign students are doing a MS in US only for the work visa.. if the possibility of working in US went away (say OPT extension gets terminated and everything else remains the same, or Trump pushes through with making H1B's much tougher\impossible to extend beyond 6 years ), a lot fewer foreign students would come to US which would result in fewer profits..