KANSAS CITY, Mo. - “Teachers open the door,” goes the old Chinese proverb. “You enter by yourself.”
More and more these days, opened doors are at U.S. universities, and Chinese students are pouring through.
This year, more than 98,200 Chinese graduate and undergraduate students were enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities, an increase of about 20 percent from 2008.
Experts attribute it to several factors, not least China’s emphasis on academic achievement and the esteem with which the Asian giant holds American higher education.
“And with better economic conditions in China, more people now can afford to send their children to college here,” said Steve Robinette, director of Missouri State University’s international outreach and China programs.
At MSU, the Chinese more than doubled, from 183 students in fall 2008 to 457 this fall.
One of those is Sandra Jong, 23, who is working toward a master’s degree in business administration.
Getting an American education makes a Chinese student more valuable to employers at home, said the Shenyang woman, whose home is about 10 hours by train from Beijing.
“In China, the hefty population leads to heavy competition for jobs,” Jong said. “It is very hard to get a job in China. Studying abroad, especially in the United States, greatly improves your chances for a job in China.”
Jong, who lives off campus with several other Chinese students, started her U.S. education at Missouri State University’s branch school at Liaoning Normal University in Dalian, China.
Even with the cheap dollar, many families must scrape together every penny they have to send their child to college in the U.S., said Robinette, who is Jong’s supervisor at the MSU international office.
“I am an only child,” Jong said. “But I don’t come from a rich family. My parents both work. They sacrificed everything  for me to study here, for my future.”
She is one of many who also hope to land a U.S. job on a work visa to gain more experience before returning to the job market at home.
It is not only Chinese students who are showing up in increasing numbers.
While the enrollments of scholars from India rose 9.2 percent this year at U.S. schools, they still outnumber the Chinese.
A report this year by the Institute of International Education said the total international enrollment in the U.S. is up nearly 8 percent this year to an all-time high of 671,616.
While Chinese students pour onto U.S. campuses, President Barack Obama said last month that he wanted to see more American college students studying in China. He called for 100,000 to make the choice over the next four years as a way to build ties between the two nations.
Last spring, China’s Ministry of Education established a series of scholarships to encourage more foreign students.
The numbers already have been increasing; up 19 percent in 2008, when 13,165 American students studied in China.