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Neighbouring Canadian and U.S. universities vie for students from each other’s countries

The University of Windsor and Wayne State University have both slashed tuition for international students.

It may be unique, but the tuition war underway between the University of Windsor and Wayne State University just across the river in Detroit highlights the value of attracting international students to your campus.

CBC News reports Wayne State is offering discounted tuition to Canadians after Windsor launched its U.S. Neighbour fee that sharply cuts tuition for Americans at the Ontario university.

Canadian undergraduates now are eligible to pay the same as those from neighbouring U.S. states, which is 10 per cent more than Michigan residents pay. For students taking 15-credit hours per semester, it adds up to a saving of US$11,633 a year compared with the previous international student rate.

The University of Windsor announced tuition reductions for U.S. students last May for the current term – US$10,000 for two semesters, compared with US$18,000 previously, CBC News said.

“Students can choose where they wish to go a lot more easily and they can choose, if they wish, to put the ‘U’ in ‘neighbour,’” Windsor president Alan Wildeman told CBS Detroit last May.

[ Related: University tuition rising to record levels in Canada ]

Wildeman said just over 80 American students were attending Windsor in the last term and the school planned to launch a recruitment drive in Michigan.

Enrollment vice-president Dave Bussiere told CBC News that the university had only 50 U.S. undergrads this term but it's too early tell if the discount program is effective. He said he expects enrollment to quadruple by next fall.

All universities court international and out-of-region students because they help diversify the campus and they generally pay much more than local residents.

This chart from the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada provides a comparison of fee differences between Canadian and international students in undergrad arts and humanities programs in 2012-13.

For example, a Canadian attending the University of British Columbia paid $4,700 a year, while a foreign student paid up to $22,622.

In Quebec, which has some of the lowest fees in Canada, a McGill University undergrad from Canada paid $2,422-$6,112, while a foreign student anted up $14,816-$16,513.

Despite the higher fees, Canada has become a magnet for international students, rising to more than 265,000 in 2012 from 150,000 a decade earlier, the Globe and Mail reported earlier this year.

But the American component of that foreign-student influx has remained fairly constant at just over 12,000 last year, compared with 12,771 in 2002. The same goes for Canadians attending U.S. schools – roughly 26,800 in 2012 versus 26,500 in 2002, the Globe noted.

[ Related: Visa delays hurt Canada's international students ]

Wildman told the Globe last May that Windsor saw the potential to lure some Michigan students if the Canadian school dropped its fees.

“We’ve only got 82 from the U.S., and you’d think, my gosh, we’re living in the midst of close to six million [Americans],” Wildeman said. “We are closer to Wayne State than [Toronto’s York University] is to the University of Toronto.”

But American universities have not sat still. An increasing number are offering discounts to out-of-state students, Business Week reported back in 2011. It's not clear how many offer those reductions to Canadian students.

For Wayne State, the Canadian outreach is a way to try to curb falling enrollment, university provost Margaret Winters told CBC News.

"Also, we want our students to meet and work with and live with a more diverse student body," she said.

Over in Windsor, Bussiere is treating this as friendly competition.

"It's a positive thing for Windsor-Essex that we're both dedicated to the region," he said.