DHS proposes charging universities $70,000 for each foreign student entering OPT
Homeland Security proposed making US schools pay $70,000 for each international student entering the OPT work program, plus $30,000 per renewal. Colleges would be paying for one of their main recruiting draws, and Fortune reported that new foreign enrollment fell 17% last fall.
The Investor · Invest desk
What happened
- Schools would pay before recommending a student for OPT, and USCIS would not grant work authorization until the fee is paid, DHS said.
- DHS presented the fee as a response to fraud and abuse, calling the program a "pipeline for cheap foreign labor."
- The public has 60 days to comment before DHS can finalize the rule, and higher education or business groups could sue to delay it.
- Overall figures for this fall are not yet out, but some colleges report international enrollment drops of 30% to 40%, according to ACE's Sarah Spreitzer.
Why it matters
- What it limits constraint Tech employers that hire international students for technical roles get no bill under the rule, but their OPT hiring becomes limited to graduates whose schools agree to pay.
- What it sets up precedent Losing in court may not end the policy, because the administration is already trying another way to push the H-1B fee above $100,000.
- Who's exposed exposure For the thousands of Chinese graduates SCMP says are affected, access to US work experience would turn on whether their school will spend $70,000 on each of them.
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Both reports describe a rule that bills the school [1]. Payment is due before the school can recommend a student [5], so the decision about each graduate now sits with a college budget office.
The cost per year of work depends on the major. Most graduates get one year of work after graduation, and certain STEM majors get two more [6]. For the first group, $70,000 buys twelve months [2]. The reports do not say how the STEM extension will be billed. If it counts as one $30,000 renewal, a STEM graduate who uses all three years costs the school $100,000 [16], or about $33,000 per year of work [18]. That total matches the $100,000 H-1B fee that Doug Rand, a former senior adviser at US Citizenship and Immigration Services under Biden, says the courts struck down [17][8].
The first possible outcome runs through the courts. Rand predicted the OPT fee would go the same way as the H-1B charge [8]. A federal court in September also blocked the administration's four-year limit on student stays, which was finalized this summer [15]. Rand wrote in an email that the US should "not use an exorbitant fee as a pretext to send them packing" [9]. If the rule survives, schools can pay and try to recover the money from later groups of foreign students. Or they can stop recommending students, and those graduates lose OPT once the school says no [5].
Colleges recruit overseas students as a source of tuition revenue [7], and OPT is part of the pitch. "We know that OPT is one of the reasons that international students choose to study in the United States because they're able to have that post-graduation work experience," said Sarah Spreitzer, a vice president at the American Council on Education [14].
In my view, the last two outcomes lead to the same result. A school that pays will want to recover $70,000 per graduate from future foreign students [2]. A school that refuses has to tell applicants that OPT is off the table. Either way the cost falls on enrollment, or rather on the next applicant deciding which country to study in. The case against this view is Rand's: a court strikes the fee down before any school pays, and the damage is limited to the comment period and the lawsuits. Two things would show I have this wrong: several colleges publicly agreeing to absorb the fee without raising foreign tuition, or the count of new international students holding steady next fall.
What to watch
- Whether DHS finalizes the rule once the 60-day comment period closes, and whether university or business groups sue to block it.
- Whether the final rule bills the two-year STEM extension as a single $30,000 renewal or as more than one charge.
- Whether any college says publicly that it will absorb the $70,000 fee or stop recommending students for OPT.
Information, not investment advice. This story is general information about companies and markets, drawn from cited reporting. It is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security; check the cited sources before acting.
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- Evidence74
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- [1]
The Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday proposed a $70,000 fee for international students seeking to work in the US; a proposed rule would require schools to pay the fee for every student who participates in the optional practical training (OPT) program.
- [2]
Schools would be required to pay $70,000 for each new student's initial application to OPT and a $30,000 fee for each renewal.
- [3]
In a statement, DHS described the fee as a response to fraud and abuse of the visa program, which it called a "pipeline for cheap foreign labor."
- [4]
The public has 60 days to comment on the proposal before DHS can finalize it; the proposal could also face legal challenges from higher education groups or business associations that could delay it.
- [5]
Schools would have to pay before recommending a student for OPT, and US Citizenship and Immigration Services would not grant employment authorisation without payment, DHS said.
- [6]
OPT students are generally eligible for one year of work post-graduation, though certain science, technology, engineering and math majors are eligible for an additional two years.
- [7]
American colleges and universities heavily recruit students from overseas as a source of tuition revenue.
- [8]
Doug Rand, a former senior adviser at USCIS during the Biden administration, predicted the fee would be struck down in the courts, as was a $100,000 fee for H-1B work visas.
- [9]
Rand said fees are not the answer, writing in an email that "we should embrace them" and "not use an exorbitant fee as a pretext to send them packing."
- [10]
Tech companies and other industries hire many international students for technical roles.
- [11]
The Trump administration is now trying a different way to raise the fee for H-1B visas to more than $100,000.
- [12]
Last fall, the number of new international students entering the United States for the first time fell by 17%, the sharpest decrease since the COVID-19 pandemic.
- [13]
Overall international enrollment numbers for this fall are not yet available, but Sarah Spreitzer of the American Council on Education said some individual colleges are reporting drops of 30% to 40%.
- [14]
"We know that OPT is one of the reasons that international students choose to study in the United States because they're able to have that post-graduation work experience," said Sarah Spreitzer, vice president at the American Council on Education.
- [15]
This summer the administration finalized a rule that sought to prevent international students from staying in the US for more than four years without federal approval; a federal court prevented the rule from taking effect in September.
- [16]
A student with one initial OPT application and one renewal would cost the school $100,000.
- [17]
The $100,000 cost of an initial OPT application plus one renewal equals the $100,000 H-1B fee Rand says the courts struck down.
- [18]
If the two-year STEM extension is billed as one renewal, $100,000 spread over three years of work eligibility is about $33,000 per year.
- [19]
The measure could sharply raise the cost for thousands of Chinese graduates seeking employment experience in the US.
Sources
6 independent publishers whose own reporting we read for this story.
- businessinsider.comUS colleges could face a $70,000 fee for international students to work after graduation
2 articles · October 10, 2026
- en.sedaily.comTrump Plans $70,000 Fee for Foreign Graduates Seeking U.S. Jobs
2 articles · October 8, 2026
- fortune.comTrump administration wants schools to pay $70,000 fee for each international student in the OPT work program, as new foreign enrollment falls 17%
1 article · October 7, 2026
- nature.comUS proposes $100,000 charge for international students to do post-graduate work
1 article · October 7, 2026
- scmp.comUS proposes US$70,000 fee for foreign students to work after graduation
1 article · October 7, 2026
- statnews.comSTAT+: Trump administration proposes $70,000 fee for popular international student work program
1 article · October 7, 2026
Topics and entities
Topics
- H-1B Visa Policy
- Higher education finance
- Skilled immigration
- US student visa policy
Entities
- US Citizenship and Immigration Services
- Intercontinental Exchange
- US Department of Homeland Security
- American Council on Education
- H-1B Visa
- NAFSA: Association of International Educators
- Optional Practical Training