为何大家争着上美国名校？

There are more than a quarter of a million students from China in colleges in the United States - a third of all international students in the country - and almost a fivefold increase since 2000. Why do so many now come to study in the US?

在美国高校，中国留学生的人数超过了25万，占到了美国留学生人数的1/3,自2000年以来，这个数字每年还在以5倍的速率增长。中国留学生何缘如此青睐美国高校?

More choice

更多的选择机会

Jayden chose the UIUC without ever having been to the US.He turned down an offer at a Chinese university in Shanghai because a Western education offered him the freedom to choose his focus of study.

杰登在选择美国伊利诺伊大学香槟分校之前从未来过美国。他没有选择中国上海的一所高校，因为西式的教育给他更自由的选择机会，让他能够选择自己学习的重心。

That is representative of a number of Chinese students. They want to get out of a schooling system that uses test scores to determine the subjects students will take, which makes it difficult to change once these have been assigned.

杰登的选择代表了许多中国学子的想法。他们想要逃脱中国的应试教育体制，这种教育体制用考试成绩来决定一个学生应该学习的科目，而一旦科目确定了，就很难再更改。

'One-child' generation

独生子的一代

There are other non-academic factors fuelling the spike in students going to the US, such as the expansion of China's middle class and policies on families.

除了学术本身的原因，还有许多其他方面的原因一起推动着这股涌向美国的中国留学生大潮、比如中国中产阶级人数的增加，还有中国的生育政策。

Charles Tucker, vice provost for Undergraduate Education and Innovation at UIUC, points out that "children who were born under the one-child policy are now of college-educated age… and changes in the Chinese economy have promoted individual wealth in families".

美国伊利诺伊大学香槟分校本科教育和创新副教务长，查尔斯·塔克先生指出，“在中国，计划生育政策之下出生的一代现在已经到了上大学的年纪了。同是，中国经济政策的变化也使得每个家庭的个体收入有所增加。

Family savings

家庭储蓄

Xuran (Sherry) Peng, one of the students from China, says her parents had to use a large portion of their savings to send her to UIUC.

彭旭冉是一个中国学生，她说，为了供她去伊利诺伊大学香槟分校，家里不得不拿出家庭积蓄的一大部分作为学费。

They believe it is an investment that will benefit her entire family, including her six-year-old half brother.

全家人都相信，这笔学费将是一种投资，将来会造福全家人，包括她只有六岁半的弟弟。

"I feel like it's part of my responsibility to earn the tuition for him, because my parents actually have the big wish that both of us can finish our education in the US and probably work in the US in the future," she says.

她说，“我觉得为弟弟挣学费也是我对家人的一种义务，因为我的父母对我和弟弟都寄予重望，希望我们俩都能在美国完成学业，甚至将来可以在美国就业。