The American Immigration Council is a non-profit, non-partisan organization. For decades, some foreign students who graduate from an American university have been able to remain in the United States for at least one year to pursue employment through Optional Practical Training (OPT) in their field of study. Graduates of certain STEM programs are permitted to remain for an additional 24 months, allowing them to work for up to three years post-graduation. This program has fueled a rise in foreign student admissions and become a vital pipeline for top students seeking to eventually immigrate to the United States permanently.
But now the fate of the program is in limbo, as the Trump administration is proposing to levy exorbitant new fees on universities for each student seeking OPT; $70,000 for the first year of a student’s participation and $30,000 for the additional 24-month extension for STEM OPT. The fees would only apply to students who have not received an OPT recommendation from their Designated School Official when the rule goes into effect; any students currently utilizing OPT or who have applications pending would not be impacted.
The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking published in the Federal Register on October 8 claims that imposing these high fees is necessary to “combat fraud and abuse” in the program, although the government admits the fees would not be used to increase fraud detection and would instead be deposited as general funds in the U.S. Treasury.
How the Proposed Fees Could Affect Universities and Tuition
In addition, the Trump administration says the fees are necessary because STEM OPT applicants are competing with American tech workers, framing their argument as a fight against “large-scale replacement of American workers.” DHS is clear that one main purpose of the fees is to “discourage aliens from using the OPT program.”
Under the proposed new rule, schools themselves would be required to pay the $70,000 and $30,000 fees, rather than the applicants for OPT or their temporary employers. The Trump administration readily admits that universities could pass these costs along to American students, which could mean a sharp decline in foreign students in the U.S. or a rise in tuition rates, or both.
The rule could increase tuition for American students by reducing the overall number of international students, who generally pay higher tuition and help subsidize attendance for domestic students. A recent study by the Economic Innovation Group predicted that a $100,000 fee on STEM OPT participation would lead to an overall reduction of 35 percent of international applicants for graduate programs, forcing universities to reduce overall enrollment slots and raise tuition for Americans, and potentially leading to the cancellation of some Master’s degree programs.
This would have a significant economic impact on universities in general, and the communities in which they sit, potentially leading to layoffs and other negative impacts. Economist Michael Clemens argues in a new study that a $100,000 OPT fee would cost American universities up to $4 billion a year in lost revenue. Beyond direct impacts on communities, a massive drop in OPT and foreign STEM students would reduce the STEM pipeline into the United States, reducing our global competitiveness.
Uncertainty Alone Could Deter Future International Students
Another likely outcome of the rule would be a large-scale abandonment of OPT in general. A survey of international students studying in the United States found that 80% of students would reconsider their decision to stay if there was a $100,000 fee to participate in the full length of STEM OPT. Even if schools ended up paying for these fees, 40% fewer students said they would seek to stay here, instead returning to their home countries and taking their skills with them.
Despite these concerns, the proposed OPT rule largely ignores possible impacts on universities and American competitiveness, declaring such impacts too speculative to take fully into consideration. The rule doubles down on this uncertainty by stating the possible costs of the rule to the public could be anywhere from $32 million a year to over $8 billion a year, a staggering range.
Crucially, while the rule makes clear that the STEM OPT program is lawful, DHS issues a veiled threat against potential challenges to this new rule, stating that “without the fees proposed in this rule, it cannot operate OPT consistent with its focus on preventing fraud and may shut down the program entirely.” But this claim is somewhat undermined by the fact that the fees are not related in any way to fraud detection, with DHS admitting that any $70,000 or $30,000 payment would be “specifically earmarked for ICE [Student and Exchange Visitor Program] or immigration enforcement activities.”
What Comes Next?
DHS is currently accepting comments on the rule through November 9, 2026. After that, DHS is required to review and respond to all the comments, and then will aim to finalize the rule, with or without edits. Once the rule is finalized, lawsuits are almost certain. A similar $100,000 fee on H-1B visa petitions implemented by a Trump executive order has been blocked in two different courts.
Regardless of whether the rule goes into effect, the uncertainty caused by the Trump administration’s latest attacks on OPT will likely continue to deter students from coming to this country. These impacts are already being felt. In the 2026-2027 academic year, schools reported a 10 percent drop in international student enrollment. As the United States loses its luster for some of the world’s smartest young people, impacts could be felt for years to come.
