Chinese Students A Growing US Business Commodity

 China is a very important source of students for American education.  And the money Chinese students bring with them has spawned¹ an industry bent² on seeing even more find their way here.

As of last year, a report from the Institute of International Education says more than 723,000 international students are studying at U.S. colleges and Universities. One out of five of those students are from China, far more than any other country.

And their numbers are growing.  In 2011, 157,558 Chinese students were attending school in the United States, a 23.5% increase over the previous year.

That's why many colleges and universities are busy trying to identify families from China who can afford to send their children to the United States to study.

But since many of those families want to give their children a head start on college, hundreds of private academic placement services have joined the competition.  And they provide packages that sometimes find entire families with a place to live and enrollment³ for their children in high schools, and in some cases, middle schools.

One of those businesses is the Astar Education Institute located outside of Washington DC.  It's a business model that's doing very well.

"It's very expensive," according to the school's  Assistant Director, Dr. Candice Quinn.

"All of our students and all of our families are of the upper echelon⁴ of the socio-economic background in China," she said.

While refusing to divulge⁵ just how much Astar charges for its services, Quinn says all students must present a financial statement that shows they can support themselves for the length of time they will be in the United States just to qualify for a visa.

"They have to have, in a bank account, somewhere between $70,000 and $150,000." said Quinn.

Quinn said the families of the Chinese students have to pay school tuition as well as a fee paid to a host family with whom the student resides while in the US, unless they choose to attend a boarding school.

What do these students and their families get for this money?

"Our primary function is to place international students into United States Schools" said Quinn. Astar recruits many Chinese students using an office they maintain in Shanghai, and makes use of agents that specialize in such services in China.

Another aspect of the business is helping⁶ those students who lack the language skills to attend an American school.  Those students will spend from three to six months to get them to a level of English proficiency⁷ so they can pass the kind of tests they need to go to a US school, according to Quinn.

Although many of the students recruited by Astar are placed in US high schools, that's not their ultimate goal.

"The parent's intention is not to have these kids terminate in a high school," said Quinn. "They're intention is for them to go to American universities, that's the ultimate goal".

And not just any university.  "The parents want them to go to the top one hundred universities," said Quinn.  "So that is always the prize we have in mind."

1 spawned   

（鱼、蛙等）大量产（卵）( spawn的过去式和过去分词 )； 大量生产

参考例句：

• The band's album spawned a string of hit singles. 这支乐队的专辑繁衍出一连串走红的单曲唱片。
• The computer industry has spawned a lot of new companies. 由于电脑工业的发展，许多新公司纷纷成立。

2 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

3 enrollment   

n.注册或登记的人数；登记

参考例句：

• You will be given a reading list at enrollment.注册时你会收到一份阅读书目。
• I just got the enrollment notice from Fudan University.我刚刚接到复旦大学的入学通知书。

4 echelon   

n.梯队；组织系统中的等级；v.排成梯队

参考例句：

• What kind of friends can be considered the first echelon of the friends?那什么样的朋友才能算第一梯队的朋友？
• These are the first echelon members.这些是我们的第一梯队的队员。

5 divulge   

v.泄漏(秘密等)；宣布，公布

参考例句：

• They refused to divulge where they had hidden the money.他们拒绝说出他们把钱藏在什么地方。
• He swore never to divulge the secret.他立誓决不泄露秘密。

6 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

7 proficiency   

n.精通，熟练，精练

参考例句：

• He plied his trade and gained proficiency in it.他勤习手艺，技术渐渐达到了十分娴熟的地步。
• How do you think of your proficiency in written and spoken English?你认为你的书面英语和口语熟练程度如何？