I’m Romanian, I’ve just finished high school, I’m currently taking the Bacalaureat, and I’ve already been admitted to an American university (USC). I knew from the start that I wanted to study abroad, and I’ve always been fascinated by California, especially Los Angeles, so the U.S. was my first choice. That said, I also looked into universities in the UK, the Netherlands, Canada, and Ireland, and their tuition fees are significantly lower.
There’s a big crunch on higher ed right now. We’re hitting a population plateau and there aren’t going to be enough students to use most of these upgraded facilities.
Texas, and probably other states, are openly attacking and censoring higher education as well. The provost for a place I was at carried around spreadsheets of costs since overall the university was always losing money. They are in for a tough time if populations get smaller as you say.