Policy Priorities

Funding that had been largely frozen since mid-February has since flowed to State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs programs as a new payment process within the department seems to be coalescing and a cadence of payments is developing. However, organizations need confidence that this payment process will continue to work and that they can count on future funding.

NAFSA remains committed to its long-standing priorities of ensuring the global competency of U.S. college graduates through expanding access to study abroad and attracting and retaining the best and brightest international talent.

NAFSA advocates for increased federal funding to ensure U.S. colleges and universities can recruit global student talent and prepare graduates with the skills necessary for future workforce success. Congress passed a temporary government funding bill in late December 2024 to keep federal agencies funded at their current levels until March 14, 2025.

Excessively long and unpredictable visa interview wait times and a disproportionately high denial rate for students coming from the Global South are affecting U.S. higher education, the economy, and national security. 

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.