Study Abroad Reform Bill Stalls in Senate

The Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act, a bill that supports study abroad reforms, and is one of 35 bills that compose Sen. Harry Reid’s Advancing America’s Priorities Act, has stalled in the Senate, according to an article in Inside Higher Education (“Senate Strands Study Abroad Bill,” July 29, 2008).

Supporters of the study abroad bill, which include more than 35 higher education and student support groups, had hoped the Simon Act would pass before legislators broke for summer recess. But legislators are still debating the study abroad bill, and the 35 other related bills tied to Reid’s proposed legislation because of its estimated $10 million price tag.

The study abroad act aims to expand study abroad — which is dominated largely by white, upper-middle income students — to include low-income students who are minorities or are studying math or science. According to a 2007 report on international educational exchange, 83 percent of Caucasians in the United States study abroad, compared to 17 percent of minorities.

“These are the types of students [for whom] it’s difficult to take a semester away,” said Jennifer Poulakidas, vice president for congressional and governmental affairs at the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges.

The Simon Act would also promote less-popular study abroad locations, such as those outside of Western Europe.

The act was inspired by a 2005 report conducted by the Commission on the Abraham Lincoln Study Abroad Fellowship Program that suggested that American colleges and universities should increase the number of undergraduates who study abroad from about 250,000 to 1 million individuals.

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