Dive Summary:
- While many prospective international students are mesmerized by the world-famous prestige of an Ivy League education, less well-known schools such as Samford University, Harding University and Green River Community College have been actively recruiting Chinese students for years.
- With some success, less prestigious schools sell themselves as a safe, hands-on alternative to Chinese parents who aspire to send their children to America for college.
- China's emerging economy and enormous population sets them up as a vast recruiting pool with untapped potential, especially for schools struggling to attract American students with the means to pay ever-increasing tuition fees.
From the article:
"One factor that made it easier for Samford University to catch the attention of some of the thousands of Chinese students at a recent education expo was that many mistook it for a university with a similar name: Stanford.
'It’s a good conversation starter,' said Hunter Denson, an international admissions counselor for Samford, a Baptist college near Birmingham, Alabama. 'They mix up the name all of the time. When we first got here, that was all they cared about. ‘Are you an Ivy League? Are you in the top 10? Why is your mascot not the Stanford tree?'’ ..."
