Enes Sayin, a Turkish student at Syracuse University, was admitted to the prestigious Boğaziçi University in Istanbul, which ranks No. 190 in best global universities and No. 1 in best global universities in Turkey by U.S. News and World Report.

Sayin instead chose to study abroad in the United States, hoping to receive an education better than the one he’d receive in Turkey, where he’d seen academic persecution. He was accepted to American University, the George Washington University and SU. The sophomore ultimately chose SU to study international relations because he was attracted by its interdisciplinary program.

The decision wasn’t easy, Sayin said. Because he is an international student, he didn’t receive any financial aid or scholarship from SU.

“I think it’s well known that private universities in the U.S. look at international students as some way of making easy money,” Sayin said. “I’ve heard this a lot, and that’s also the opinion I got.”

International students — who don’t have as many financial aid options as domestic students and pay full tuition — will likely shoulder a larger financial burden as SU seeks to implement a $3,300 Invest Syracuse premium on top of an annual 3.9 percent tuition hike.

This academic year’s tuition is $45,150, and total cost of attendance is $67,152, according to the SU website. For incoming Class of 2022 freshmen, though, the tuition is estimated to go up to $50,230, and total cost of attendance is expected to surge to $72,329, including the tuition increase and the premium. The Invest Syracuse premium will be established to help support the initiative’s $100 million academic fundraising plan.

Students currently enrolled at the university will not be affected by the premium, but they will see the 3.9 percent tuition increase. The Board of Trustees will approve the final cost, which will be finalized in March.

“We’re paying more without getting anything (from the university),” said Mikhail Milchakov, a senior from Russia studying marketing and management at SU. “It’s just that I feel they want to attract international students, and it’s starting to make us feel like a cash cow.”

In a joint email statement provided to The Daily Orange, Vice Chancellor and Provost Michele Wheatly and Dolan Evanovich, senior vice president for enrollment and the student experience, reiterated what they had said at previous Invest Syracuse information sessions:

“Approximately 65% of students receive financial support through scholarships and grants. This includes international students who do, and will continue to, receive merit-based scholarships. Recognizing the need to balance tuition and access and affordability, the Invest Syracuse Initiative includes a $40 million fundraising campaign that will support undergraduate scholarships and financial aid exclusively.”

The two university officials also said SU will strengthen outreach and education about debt management and savings through the Office of Financial Literacy.

International students are qualified for the university’s merit-based scholarships such as the Chancellor’s Scholarship or the Dean’s Scholarship and certain scholarships for exceptionally talented students.

They have less options in financial aid than domestic students in that international students are not qualified for federal financial aid or the Federal Work Study Program. They’re also not permitted to work off campus without proper authorization, and their on-campus employment is restricted to 20 hours or less per week.

Alisa Sokolova, a senior television, radio and film and international relations dual major from Russia, said a potential surge in the total cost of attendance would have discouraged her from applying to SU or any U.S. college as a high school senior, even with the merit-based scholarship she receives.

“I think it’s outrageous,” Sokolova said of the potential cost of attendance for incoming freshmen at SU.

Pat Burak, director of SU’s Slutzker Center for International Services, declined to comment, referring a Daily Orange inquiry to the Division of Enrollment and the Student Experience.

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The number of international students at SU has been increasing despite previous tuition hikes. During the 2016-17 academic year, international students made up about 19 percent of the university’s total enrollment, or 4,123 students, according to data by the Slutzker Center. The total international student enrollment at the university climbed by 136 percent since 2006, according to the center.

Yulia Safiulina, a senior political science major from Russia whose parents pay SU’s full  tuition, said she doesn’t feel changes in the cost of attendance. She said if she were a Class of 2022 freshman, she wouldn’t choose SU because she said it is unfair for her to fund programs that wouldn’t benefit her.

Evanovich, SU’s senior vice president for enrollment and the student experience, said in August that Class of 2022 students who begin paying the tuition premium will benefit from improved academic career service programs and new faculty hires, although the $100 million fundraising initiative won’t be completed until after most graduate.

Some students’ frustration on the increasing cost of attendance has resonated with admission officers. In a study released this year by Gallup and Inside Higher Ed, 45 percent of college admission directors said U.S. colleges have become too dependent on international full-pay undergraduates.

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The jump in international student enrollment at SU reflects a nationwide trend. The number of international students studying in the U.S. surpassed 1 million for the first time during the 2015-16 academic year, a 7.1 percent jump compared to the previous academic year, according to the Institute of International Education.

Tuition has gone up at the same time. Average tuition and fees at private four-year institutions rose by 3.6 percent between the 2015-16 and 2016-17 academic years, according to The College Board.

Mike Reilly, executive director at the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, said established research institutions that have large international student enrollment would see stable international applicant numbers despite cost of attendance increases.

He pointed out that three of the top four universities in the U.S. in terms of international student enrollment — New York University, the University of Southern California and Columbia University — are private institutions with high tuitions that still attract significant number of overseas applicants.

SU, a private, not-for-profit research university, was ranked a top tier research institution in the 2015 Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.

The university also identifies increasing international presence as one of its goals. Wheatly, the university’s provost, launched an internationalization council to further global engagement last year.

She also proposed a university-wide science, technology, engineering and mathematics “branding strategy” to make SU “a leading model for contemporary STEM education.” About 26 percent of undergraduate and graduate international students are enrolled in the College of Engineering and Computer Science.

“As tuition climbs … if (schools) start to see impacts to their applicant pool, reductions in their yields, reductions in acceptances, I think that’s when you need to temper those,” Reilly said. “But until then some schools still need to find some calculus for generating net tuition revenue in order to be able to run their institutions.”

Can Isik, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science who sits on the Internationalization Council, said he encourages international students to voice their concerns.

“If my child was in this situation, I wouldn’t have been happy,” Isik said. “But looking from the other perspective, there’s this great Academic Strategic Plan, and a plan is good for nothing if it can’t be funded.”

Published on November 12, 2017 at 10:16 pm

Contact Satoshi: ssugiyam@syr.edu | @SatoshiJournal