李对莫斯曼说，“我很懊悔，是我破坏了其他中国学生的梦想”。莫斯曼说，“听到他这么说，我的心很痛。”

　　当问及其他中国学生会从他身上得到什么经验的时候，李打开自己的日记本，写到“相信”一词，但是他在中间的三个字母画了一个方框，是“谎言”。

　　英文原版：

　　China Rush to U.S. Colleges Reveals Predatory Fees for Recruits

　　Leon Lin was ecstatic when he found out he’d be leaving home in southern China to study at the University of Connecticut. As the Chinese agent whom his parents paid $5,000 to help him get into the school told him, the university’s flagship campus at Storrs was a highly ranked institution, with 25,000 students and ready access to Boston and New York City. And eventually Lin would return home with the status and career advantage of a U.S. degree. It never crossed his mind that he’d pay $47,000 a year to live in an almost empty country inn and attend classes five miles down the road at a UConn satellite campus comprising two buildings and 250 students. He shares a room and a microwave with his only compatriot on the Torrington campus, Li Rirong, a fellow freshman with similarly dashed dreams。

　　“I didn’t know there was a regional campus,” said 20-year- old Lin. “I knew there were lots of international students at Storrs. I said, ‘Torrington campus, what the hell?’”

　　Lin and Li reflect the most extreme result of an industry burgeoning from the fourfold rise since 2006 in the number of Chinese undergraduates at U.S. colleges. More than 400 agencies licensed by the Chinese government, and many others that aren’t, cater to families eager to see their children gain the prestige of a U.S. degree. For thousands of dollars, agents help fill out applications, ghost-write essays and arrange visas。

　　U.S. Ties

　　These agents also often misrepresent or conceal their U.S. affiliations. They receive payments not only from the families, who even pony up a share of any scholarships awarded to their children, but also from an increasing number of colleges, as well as small operators seeking to profit stateside from the influx of Chinese students。

　　Eager to mine a newly affluent China, the State University of New York, Tulane University in New Orleans and scores of other schools are starting to pay agents a commission for each student enrolled -- an incentive that’s banned when recruiting U.S. students。

　　The upshot is that some Chinese students end up paying at least twice as much as their American counterparts to go to colleges that aren’t necessarily the best match for them。

　　“We’re pretty much against commercial recruiting agents,” said Alina Romanowski, deputy assistant secretary for academic programs at the U.S. State Department, which offers free college advising abroad through its EducationUSA[微博] arm. “We want to make sure people don’t have to pay for” information about college, she said. “It’s out there, it’s available, and we provide it。”

　　Horses, River Rafting

　　In Lin and Li’s case, their agents were working with a former U.S. Treasury investigator-turned-real-estate-developer. He aimed to recruit Chinese students to attend campuses like Torrington that lack their own housing, and enlist them as rent- paying tenants. At least one of the agents in China and the developer represented themselves to students as having a relationship with the University of Connecticut -- a relationship that never existed。

　　The developer, Timothy Martin of Granby, Connecticut, also promised the young men access to flight training, equestrian lessons, river rafting and other recreations, none of which materialized. Lin and Li each pay his firm $22,200 a year for room and board at the inn -- about $9,000 more than it would cost them to live in a dormitory at Storrs. That’s on top of about $25,000 they each pay in out-of-state tuition, three times the in-state rate。

　　The Real Thing

　　Martin said his company has given Lin and Li value for their money. “We’re not selling RC Cola in China and saying it’s Coke,” he said. “We’re selling Coke。”

　　So far, Lin and Li’s experience in the U.S. has been one of isolation and frustration. Torrington has no other foreign students, and little in the way of English-language help. “It’s just a desert for them here,” said Christine Mosman, Torrington’s student affairs coordinator. “It’s so sad。”

　　China passed South Korea in the 2009-2010 academic year as the leading source of international undergraduates at U.S. colleges, accounting for almost 40,000 students, according to the Institute of International Education, a New York-based nonprofit group. China’s one-child-per-family policy and its growing wealth mean middle-class families there can afford U.S. tuitions that far exceed the cost of Chinese universities。

　　Few Counselors

　　About 80 percent of these students use agents, according to a May 2010 report by Zinch China, an online social network that matches Chinese students with colleges and scholarships. Since placement at domestic universities is determined by an entrance exam, Chinese high schools rarely provide guidance counselors, and agents fill the gap for students looking overseas。

　　The system works well for many Chinese applicants whose agents take into account their academic records and personal preferences and guide them to appropriate U.S. colleges。

　　One of China’s biggest agencies, Guangzhou-based EIC Group, charges $4,000 to $6,000 -- depending on the ranking of the colleges -- for a maximum of six applications, plus $150 to $300 for each additional application, according to a contract reviewed by Bloomberg News. If students don’t pay fees on time, EIC can withhold letters of acceptance and visa documents. “All the negative consequences are borne by the client,” the contract states。

　　Students must also pay 10 percent of any college scholarships or financial aid to EIC. “Anything wrong with that?” said Albert Li of EIC’s U.S. department in Beijing. “It’s an award for our writer, for the consultant, it’s kind of encouragement。”

　　Scholarship Share

　　For agents to benefit from financial aid is “horribly wrong,” said Yenbo Wu, associate vice president for international education at San Francisco State University. “That money shouldn’t be collected. That’s for students。”

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