You’re talking to someone who worked in American universities during the decades those very changes were happening. Taiwan and Korea have been relatively rich for 50 years. You know which countries were way poorer 30 years ago and therefore sent way fewer people to American universities? China and India! They now have large and growing populations of rich people, as Taiwan and Korea did before them, hence all four countries now sending many to study abroad.
Ever met any international students in the US? Like…a single one, ever, let alone thousands as I have? Were they from poor families? No. Ever noticed which Taiwanese people went to US universities? (Hint: Not the poor.)
Poor people globally can’t afford $30k-$70k per year in tuition, with or without loans. Nobody loans that much money to poor people, and US Federal student loans are only available to Americans.
Back in the early to mid 90’s Indonesia was also one of the leading providers of international students to the US. Then their currency crashed and most of them had to go home. They were still relatively rich in their home country, but no longer globally rich enough to afford tuition in US dollars.
Literally the case in all rich countries. Especially gor grad school. In fact some of the richest such as Switzerland and Norway pay very nice salaries (IIRC 4000 francs per month for PhDs).
I think one needs to make the differentiation between undergrad and post-grad here. Unis dont usually pay foreigners for undergrad…Taiwan does…totally agree with u on postgrad.
If they truly feel college is worth their time and money, I would let them get a job
Option 2, rethink your future to make more money.
Although salaries are low in taiwan, opportunity isnt. For me though, i think university is a cost to the person attending. Its good to help kids, but its also worth embedding the thought they need to work for their slice.
My plan with my kids is i have an account and let them push to make their way without knowing they have an account. Once they are buying a house, their account opens up.
Some European countries, most notably Germany, have free University including for International students, and undergraduates, and including courses in English.
I did my taught masters in the Netherlands, and the degree was awarded by a Dutch University and by a UK University. And the fees were exactly 0.
So yea, university is expensive in some places But for those on a budget there are options.
I saw a doc series about Hakka people overseas, one was a Taiwanese family who moved to Norway. The dad used to be an engineer in Hsinchu, got sick of the stressful lifestyle and moved to Norway doing a cybercrime PhD , he got some kind of scholarship or income too . Whole family moved with him. On a tight budget but looked like they were doing well as Norway has lots of social benefits too and the environment is really nice .
Taiwan and Korea were some of the poorest countries in the world 50 years ago.
Who said international students in America were poor? I said poorer countries tend to be the largest markets like China and India for US universities. You don’t see many international students from Australia or Denmark in America, for example.
I feel like people in this thread are forgetting US universities are unaffordable for Americans themselves, which is why most people are under a mountain of student loan debt after college.
I mean people would take a loan in Taiwan to study in America (or some other countries).
These European destinations are all very niche and fringe. America is by far the most popular destination, followed by other Anglophone countries and Japan.
50 ywars ago, 1970s, taiwan was far from the poorest…we were no Laos, Angola etc.
My home country of canada has a lot of people going to the us for university. Even more study in canada and work in the US. Just the way it is. Very few, on the other hand, come to taiwan for university. The schools here are overwhelmingly shitty. But to be fair, schools in north america are steadily declining as well. For many though, taiwan offers a wonderful opportubity of free education and living expenses to foreigners. Much like the german example above.
More like turning international students into ATMs, grabbing cash from them through sky high differential fees and thereby turning themselves into clubs for rich kids.
In contrast, when I did my undergraduate degree in Canada back in the day, my uni charged no differential fees for international students. They were welcome to come to get an education.
My point was very few will pay you the average wage while you study and even give your family social benefits too (PhD students get paid 50k USD per year and they pay tax too). This guy and his family were living relatively well given that he was a PhD student.
If you don’t have the money there are other options out there than America or UK or Australia.
For my kids they need residency and then they will get highly subsidised college fees in my home country. Previously we could also go to Scotland and get free fees, not sure if that is the case anymore. Scottish unis are very good !
I read this post figuring it would be about ways to make US tuition work from Taiwan, but it seems like the original (2009) posts were mostly folk recommending instate tuition and the new discussion is about who can afford US education.
I do wish there were a way to get in-state rates somewhere, but it sounds like that’s almost impossible without moving back. We’re still 5+ years out from having kids who are college age, but I am really nervous how to make US university affordable for our kids if we’re still here in Taiwan.
Check out Singapore.
A while ago I had a buddy who had free tuition for 3 years on the condition he worked in Singapore afterwards for something like 3 years.
Be very careful if you’re hoping for in-state rates. My dad went to high school for the last two years in the same state that he attended undergrad (private university). When he tried to get in-state tuition for grad school (state school), they insisted that he was only a resident of that state because of university. I think it’s changed now; as long as you graduate from a high school in that state, you’re OK, but it might depend on the state. But attending high school in Taiwan will probably screw your kids over from an in-state tuition standpoint.
Damn. How convenient! Dont get me wrong, i want my doctors to be very WELL educated! But these kinds of things just go to show what a racket the education industry really is.
I think they go off of tax returns. We probably could go back for a year or two if we thought it would last, but I expect as soon as we showed no state taxes we’d be in trouble. I thought someone here might have some life hacks on how to do it (one spouse stays a certain number of days in US, kids file for independent status, gap year for residency, etc.).
I know people who did that too! That said our eldest kid has already said they want to do school in the US. If you’re in Taiwan, there’s no easy community college–>state U path for cheap. Every public school is looking expensive and the private ones are probably the same. I do know many Taiwanese who because of grades and lower income qualified for reasonable private U prices.
