Comment on FR Doc # 2026-13248
Paige SchneiderOpposeIndividual
Summary: The commenter opposes the rescission of federal regulations for international education programs, arguing that federal administration ensures a level playing field for students in lower-income states. They contend that removing these regulations would undermine national security, erode linguistic expertise, and destabilize the infrastructure needed for long-term investment in area studies.
I write to oppose the rule to rescind federal regulations around funding for international education programs including the Fulbright Hays scholarships. States are highly unlikely to be able to administer these types of specialized programs. Students in Lower income states ESPECIALLY IN MANY SOUTHRRN STATES will lose opportunities to compete with students from other regions of the US. It would put at risk decades of strategic federal investment in area studies education, research, and language instruction, particularly in less commonly taught languages. Lower income southern states will not be able to afford to continue these programs. The benefit of nationally administered programs is that there is a level playing field for all US students regardless of which state they reside. It would weaken the national capacity to educate the next generation of experts and erode deep reservoirs of knowledge and linguistic expertise that the U.S. relies upon to understand and respond to developments in regions of profound geopolitical and strategic importance. The existing program regulations provide the stability, transparency, and predictability that institutions of higher education require to make responsible, long-term investments in language and area studies programming and to compete for federal funding on a fair and equitable basis. They also allow institutions to develop multi-year programs, recruit and train faculty, establish language curricula, support students, and build the sustained expertise that the nation requires. This infrastructure reaches far beyond the university. It provides professional opportunities and curricular resources for K-12 teachers, learning opportunities for community college students, and support for local economies by investing in knowledge and expertise for businesses. At a time when the U.S. faces increasingly complex global challenges, dismantling the infrastructure that produces this expertise is directly contrary to the national interest and a serious threat to national security.