Public schools generally charge much more for non-residents (between 2x and 4x more in my experience) in part because of the reason you describe, not having con

Public schools generally charge much more for non-residents (between 2x and 4x more in my experience) in part because of the reason you describe, not having contributed to the tax base which funded the school. Students whose parents maintain domicile in another state (or another country) are generally considered by the school to be residents of that place for tuition purposes and thus not able to access the, much cheaper, in-state tuition. Do you have any statistics on public schools which enroll a majority of international students? With a cursory search, the highest I found was UC Davis with 16% [0]. UC Davis charges, for undergrad, 14k~ for resident and 44k~ for non-resident. Domestic Non-Californians are eligible for loans and potentially a small number of grants via FAFSA from federal tax pools, as with anywhere else. Generally, only Californian residents are eligible for state and university need-based funding. Most non-citizens, such as those who are undocumented, are not eligible for FAFSA.[1] It seems more likely to me that these students, given how much more they pay, contribute to a reduced tax burden for tax payers on the whole. Not to mention the economic benefits from them buying housing, food, beer, etc. In the area where they live while in school. [0] https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/most-international https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-unive... [1] https://studentaid.gov/understand-aid/eligibility/requirements/non-us-citizens https://studentaid.gov/understand-aid/eligibility/requiremen...