By Jonathan Friedman
Associate Editor

November 18, 2014 -- For the sixth year in a row, Santa Monica College ranked number two on a list of community colleges with the most international students. 

Nearly 3,500 international students attended SMC during the 2013 to 2014 school year, according to information recently released by the nonprofit Institute of International Education.

First on the list was the Houston Community College System with a little more than 5,200 international students. De Anza College in Cupertino, California ranked number three with 2,860 international students.

SMC has been ranked second nearly every year since the Institute of International Education released its first list covering 2003 to 2004. The exceptions were 2006 to 2007 and 2007 to 2008, and both those times SMC was number three while Montgomery College in Maryland held the second spot.

Nearly one out of every four students who attended SMC in the 2013 fall semester was not a US citizen, according to statistics appearing on the school’s website. 

The majority of the non-citizens (10.8 percent of the student body) held an F-1, or full-time student, visa.

The number of F-1 visa-holding students attending SMC last fall was 3,253 -- continuing a trend of growth. The number was 3,165 in 2012, 3,108 in 2011, 3,066 in 2010 and 2,862 in 2009.

SMC can make significantly more money from a student attending with an F-1 visa than on a local person or even an out-of-state-paying person who is not on a visa.

To maintain the F-1 visa status, a student must take a minimum of 12 units worth of classes per semester. The person must pay the out-of-state rate of $325 per unit (compared to $46 for California residents) for a total of $7,800 per year.

The price gets higher for an F-1 visa student when one considers the mandatory health insurance, books, housing (not provided by the college) and other costs. SMC’s website estimates it costs $27,000 for an international student to attend the college for a year.

There are also English proficiency programs offered in the fall and spring semesters at a cost of $3,200 and in the summer for $1,600 as well as the winter for $1,200.

The SMC website notes other types of non-citizen students who do not hold F-1 visas. 

For the 2013 fall semester, there were 2,077 permanent residents (6.9 percent of student body), 1,329 listed as “status unknown” (4.4 percent of student body), 195 refugees (.7 percent of student body), 95 temporary residents (.3 percent of student body), and 38 listed as “other” (.1 percent of student body).