US elite colleges should be reserved for America's best and brightest

As I went back to my 50th class reunion at Yale recently, I reflected not just on my fellow classmates but also on the biggest change I see on campus, which I can only assume would be the same at other elite schools.

- Gary Franks Tribune Content Agency

People walk through a gate as they exit Harvard Yard on the campus of Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachussetts, on April 15, 2025.

Where are the Americans? I do not say this to sound xenophobic, but I question if we are truly allowing Americans to come “first” to our leading educational institutions.

It is difficult to find records indicating the percentage of international students attending U.S. elite schools in the 1970s, but in 1980, only 6% of Yale students were international students. Today, Yale and Harvard have about 25%. Wow!

We should have international students, but they should not equal a quarter of the school. No way!

This is where the federal government should get involved, not the White House acting unilaterally, but Congress enacting legislation. Instead of investigating nonsense from the past, Congress should buckle down and work to improve America’s future and security. One of the best places to start would be the education of our future leaders.

Through legislation, colleges could reduce taxes on their endowment profits if they agreed to return to 1980 levels of international students.

Failing to do so could become a national security concern. It should be remembered that the Al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden was educated at an elite school in England - Oxford University.

A rhetorical question: Why do elite colleges have so many foreign students? Reason: They pay full tuition and make handsome donations to the school. OK, yes. But that should not be a factor in their admittance. That does not sound like “America First.”