China’s Elite Students Are Gaming the System and American Students Are Paying the Price

President Trump recently announced that up to 600,000 Chinese students will be allowed to study in the United States, drawing criticism from some MAGA supporters. For students in China, this represents a major opportunity, one that was previously available primarily to the wealthiest families. Those who do not fall within the top ten percent of wage earners in the country typically have far fewer options. With the start of the 2025–2026 school year in September, more than 13 million Chinese high school seniors are expected to sit for the Gaokao, the country’s grueling national college entrance exam. Their futures hinge entirely on this single test: success opens doors to top universities and career opportunities, while poor scores can severely limit prospects.

Given the stakes of the Gaokao, China’s wealthiest families refuse to put their children through this pressure, bypassing the exam entirely. Instead, they send them to American high schools as a pathway to reputable U.S. universities, a status symbol for China’s elite.  Many start by exploiting well-established cheating networks where agents fabricate transcripts, ghostwrite essays, and manipulate standardized testing loopholes. The consequence is clear: American students lose out, and U.S. schools, are complicit in prioritizing tuition dollars over meritocracy.

Private and Catholic secondary schools in the U.S. have strong financial incentives to admit wealthy international students. These families often pay more than $50,000  a year, nearly ten times the tuition of local students. During downturns such as the 2008 financial crisis or the aftermath of COVID-19, many schools depended on this revenue to stay afloat, unintentionally opening the door to admissions fraud.

In my consulting work at a Catholic high school in Staten Island, New York, I saw firsthand how the system was routinely manipulated.  Paid agents “Americanized” transcripts, converting pass/fail marks into letter grades, giving applicants an unfair advantage. Application essays were ghostwritten by agents from test-prep companies. Admission interviews were compromised with hidden earbuds feeding answers in real time from someone not in the view of the camera.

The gaming of the system continued into high school and beyond. Students frequently failed Regents exams in subjects like Biology or English, a requirement for earning a diploma, and often sought alternative paths. Some enrolled in Penn Foster, a nationally accredited online program, completing a diploma in six months with minimal effort. One student even offered me $20,000 to do the work on his behalf. While I refused, others were willing to accept, bypassing academic standards the system was meant to uphold.

Cheating extended to college admissions. Chinese test-prep companies such as New Oriental or New Channel offered programs designed to “game” exams. One method exploited time zones: students in Beijing obtained SAT questions in advance from international sites in New Zealand. Associates memorized answers and relayed them hours later to students in Beijing, giving them nearly 12 hours to study before the official test.

Other accounts describe fake passports and bribed proctors to facilitate cheating on exam day.

To be fair, many Chinese students are diligent, hardworking, and succeed on their own merits. They should be welcomed. But when cheating networks succeed, they don’t just hurt Americans; they also hurt, honest international students who earn their success the right way.

The solution isn’t to close the doors to international students. But, if admissions and academic standards are perceived as purchasable, America’s ability to attract top talent and maintain credibility among its academic institutions will be diminished substantially.

Clearly, policymakers, universities, and K-12 administrators must do a better job at carefully vetting applicants, crack down on diploma mills, and tighten oversight over standardized testing to ensure exam integrity.

Only by upholding meritocracy that rewards effort over money can the US continue to attract top talent from around the world and maintain global leadership throughout the 21st century.