Do the student spies pay non resident rate, or am I as a taxpayer footing the bill?
I don’t think you really want to know that answer to that one.
Well, in the case of the Univ of Cincinnati back in the mid 80's, it was the taxpayer footing the bill. The Mathematics department gave all the graduate assistantships ( included full tuition and a yearly stipend - paid for by the state of Ohio ) to "students" from China. Most of these "students" already had advanced degrees. The head of the graduate department had the gall, in an interview in the Wall Street Journal for an article about why so many TA's in the US were foreign students, to say that there were plenty of scholarships, but no US students apply - when there were at least 6 of us that applied and were qualified, but were turned down because there were "no scholarships available". ( Incidentally, this same professor received an all paid full year sabbatical at a university in China 2 years later )
They pay the full tab, extravagant as it may be. Which is why universities love and court them. Which is why there arent as many spaces for American students at the state university our taxes help finance, so that the Americans may have to go to private colleges, with resultant expense. At least that's the way it is in my state.