> Because states are different? Wouldn't you say OK, NY, CA are different states with different universities, budgets, students, cultures etc. Why is it surprising that a student from Mississippi might want to go to UC Berkeley?

There's only a few well known schools that attract students from all over the country. Note that we're not talking about the top 5 or even top 50. The typical example is Wright State University in Ohio. I don't think anyone from NY, CA or Texas would be interested in paying more and going to that school.

> Well yeah international students also incur an additional administrative cost to manage. Having lots of them also means needing to hire more staff in international students services department.

Look, I'm not going to argue with you for the sake of argument. Like I said before you can invent reasons. This is just so far fetched... really? Admissions officers and the International Students department is colluding to increase number of international students to increase the budget of the latter? Oh please. Gimme a break.

> It seems not. Why is it crazy to think someone might want to go to school in a different state, and you're convinced only international students would do it? If people half way across the world want to fly out and study here paying double the tuition, why wouldn't people from other US states?

Because there aren't enough US students. Why is it so hard to understand that even after so many fucking incentives, low interest loans and whatnot, many US citizens just don't want to go to college? The US has a shit ton of Universities and there is more than enough room for all students, domestic and international. And like I said before, if American students did apply, I find it hard to believe that they would not get preference over international students.

> Not sure what you mean by "kernel of interest". OP was talking about undergraduate research as one of the top reasons US is losing out to other countries and so on. The point is there is minimal undergraduate research compared to graduate. Especially at the state colleges they are talking about. Kentucky State or Oklahoma State undergrads are not driving US research forward.

Now you're conflating things. The OP was talking about research in general. Graduate research programs frequently employ undergrad researchers, to give them a taste of what research is like, in hopes that they will be interested in pursuing graduate research later. That is the "kernel of interest", and US undergraduate programs are incredibly good at accomplishing that. Many of the grad students I worked with started graduate research because they did a little research undergrad and that got them hooked. Without that taste, they might have never known.

> Whose hope? Not being sarcastic here just wondering. Do you think it is the US government's hope, universities or students? Maybe a combination of those? At the end of the day it is not a permanent residence track. It's H1B visas, marriages and other tracks which lead to permanent residence. Getting an F-1 and J-1 won't. Quite the opposite J-1 visas used to explicitly require students return and spend some time in their home countries with the "hope" of sharing the experience.

Of American society. Civilizations move forward on the back of innovation and innovation is possible only with the smartest, hard-working people living, contributing ideas to your society.

> Besides passing TOEFL and showing up with a full tuition check what are the merit requirements is needed. You'd probably say high school grades, but I remember just handing them a hand written note from my high school principal which I translated myself and he signed. They didn't need SAT or ACT scores even. Maybe they do now, I didn't check.

Again, please don't use these hand-wavy anecdotal arguments. Maybe some Universities are like that. I was rejected by basically all the undergraduate programs I applied to in the US (even after showing proof of ability to pay tuition) and was accepted only later for a Graduate Program after applying to 12 places. It. Is. Not. Easy. Its really hard and these kids who do get in, they're very smart. They also happen to have parents willing to pay. Why exactly do you want to punish them for it?