This letter will be telling you the biggest secret within the group of international students in the U.S.

According to the Institute of International Education, Open Doors Report 2015, the number of international students in the U.S. was 564,766 in 2005 and has increased to 974,926 in 2014. These students not only contribute to the U.S. economy through extremely high tuition fees, they are also an invaluable resource that allows domestic students to learn different cultures and perspectives. Following the burgeoning number of international students that are entering into the United States, it is expected that not all of them can comprehend and agree with U.S. standards of academic integrity.

Academic dishonesty is always a serious issue on campus. International students have a higher rate of reported academic cheating compared to domestic students. A reason for this issue is their lack of English language skills. The most common kind of academic dishonesty is plagiarism.

The fact is, some international student’s cheat out of ignorance. The word “plagiarism” is foreign to us, a brief presentation on plagiarism at our orientation doesn’t clarify the boundary of plagiarism, we don’t learn its destructive consequences.

However, many international students cheat at the risk to achieve their ideal grade. An international student under the pseudonym Smith, who is attending a community college in the Bay Area, told me that she just hires someone to attend her online Math class with a payment of $1200 — this is not her first time. Although the online class requires in-class exams, the person that she hires only needs to get a new student ID from the student center by posing themselves as Smith. The impostor will not be asked for identification or any legal documents. Other common ways to cheat include buying papers, and also cheat as a group to cover each other during an exam.

Undeniably, the possibility of getting caught is low enough to drive people to ignore the risks of cheating and the consequences. The cheating policy hasn’t been accompanied with the increasing population of international students, while the United States actively recruit students from other countries. Host institutions should educate international students on the immense consequences of cheating before getting their education on other subjects. Moreover, the loopholes in the existing system need to be filled in to stop this.