Policy Priorities

A potential path to employment and an option to remain in the country permanently after graduation would be a powerful incentive for international students to choose the U.S. to study and stay and contribute to our country. The bicameral, bipartisan Keep STEM Talent Act does this for a key segment of international students while also addressing a pressing labor shortage in the U.S. economy. 

For decades, Optional Practical Training (OPT) has provided international students critical access to experiential learning and benefited the U.S. economy and the American workforce. America’s reputation as the top destination for global talent and ultimately, its preeminence in research and innovation, will take a devastating hit—particularly in STEM fields—if OPT is restricted or ended as threatened by the current administration. 

The United States’ national security, economic competitiveness, and global leadership are all advanced by the international education and exchange programs of the Departments of State and Education. These congressionally-authorized programs—which have received bipartisan support in Congress for decades—are currently imperiled by funding cuts, withdrawn funds, and staff layoffs. 

To make study abroad the norm, not the exception, for today's U.S. college students, Congress should support the Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Program Act to incentivize higher education to increase study abroad and provide a cost-effective, sustainable way to ensure more U.S. undergraduates can study internationally.