China-US Trade: US runs a large surplus on higher education with China

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How will this visa restriction impact the US economy? CGTN's Karina Huber reports.

Right now, there are more than one million international students enrolled in U.S. colleges. A third of them are from China-no other country has as many students here.

U.S. President Donald Trump has indicated he'd like that to change. His administration is looking at restricting the number of visas for Chinese students.

The president has long lamented the trade deficit with China, but when it comes to higher education - the U.S. runs a large surplus with the rest of the world NOT a deficit.

DICK STARTZ ECONOMICS PROFESSOR, UC SANTA BARBARA "A modest number of Americans spend a little bit of time at universities in China, in Europe and other places. But many international students - and China is far and away the biggest source - basically get their entire higher education in the United States."

Chinese students tend to favor degrees in engineering, math, science and business - areas that are not as popular among American students. Those departments are the most vulnerable to any visa changes.

BRADLEY FARNSWORTH VICE PRESIDENT, AMERICAN COUNCIL ON EDUCATION "If those students were suddenly to disappear, or we would see a serious decline, I think there would be very unfortunate consequences just for the quality of instruction for everyone along with the loss of tuition revenue."

KARINA HUBER NEW YORK Tuition at Columbia University and many other colleges in the United States runs upwards of 50 thousand dollars a year. Many American students don't pay that much, because they get scholarships and financial aid. International students, on the other hand, usually pay full price.

Many U.S. colleges depend on that revenue for their operations and to subsidize American students. Chinese students also provide a boost to local businesses.

DICK STARTZ ECONOMICS PROFESSOR, UC SANTA BARBARA "Chinese students come here and buy pizza and they rent apartments and they buy cars and all of that goes into the local economy and makes jobs and helps support the local economy."

Students from China spend at least 12 billion dollars a year in the U.S. on tuition and living expenses.

BRADLEY FARNSWORTH VICE PRESIDENT, AMERICAN COUNCIL ON EDUCATION "A loss of international students for the United States is bad public policy. It's bad for higher education and it's bad for the country."

Opponents of the visa restrictions say they're also un-American. Karina Huber, CGTN, New York.