It is perhaps not surprising that as countries like China become more affluent, famous institutions such as Ivy League universities house an increasing number of international students, for their populace can more afford to pay. However, even when it comes to small schools that Americans might not have even heard of, having an international student ratio of 3:2 can be commonplace. This can be hard to comprehend—until you factor in the work of overseas agents.

Using agents is actually a common practice for small schools unable to advertise themselves through international admissions campaigns and word of mouth. These institutions normally rely on international education provider services such as Study Group, with at least one, if not a few, agents in each city to promote admissions for the schools. Their spiel: It is easier to transfer into a “name-brand” school than to get in as a freshman. In certain cases, students can even skip a year in their local system. The provider and agent then split the commission that they collect from the schools.

These agents help put some colleges on the map, such as community colleges that are affiliated with the University of California network through Transfer Admissions Guarantee (TAG) (Foothill College in California, for example) and minor liberal art colleges with lesser rankings. Unlike famous universities, these schools actually charge international students a “discounted” tuition for their freshman and sophomore years. It isn’t until the students have junior or senior standing and are less able to transfer that the schools increase tuition to cover the cost of those who left the school. With the enormous volume of internationals transferring out, these colleges have a freshman retention rate of only around 75 percent.

Although it seems like these students have found their better, brighter futures, their lives are not easy from here on out. Unlike the public California system, most universities do not have a list of required credits to which students can match their courses. They also discover that the SATs that they seem to have evaded will come back to haunt them as many of the top schools require test scores in addition to perfect GPAs.

I was part of that system. Three semesters ago, I started my college life in a liberal arts school that was nothing like the universities I visited and at which I wanted to study. The classes were small, and the local students lived no further than four hours from campus. I soon found out that the courses did not match up with the requirements of the list of schools I was applying to, I still had to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), even though the first writing class I took was an honors class, and I was a year younger than everyone else. During that time, I often wondered whether I was just another victim of an international corporate scam. I managed to get into Washington University, but not every international student is as lucky as I was. We aren’t warned about the extra difficulties we will face when we make it to schools in the United States. I was lucky; I managed to find my way into a fantastic school and get through the whole process. A lot of students don’t and get stuck or bogged down, forced to attend school for longer or never managing to transfer out.

This mutual reliance of small schools and international students may be news to many of those who fought their way into college. But this is happening nationwide, and it doesn’t seem like it will lose momentum anytime soon. Just over the last few years, the number of international students enrolling through an agent tripled in my old school. Institutional recruitment through agents is a growing business worldwide. All we can do right now is to wait and see what impact these recruited students will have on the U.S. college system.