Washington Update

APLU Comments on Optional Practical Training (OPT) Fee Rule 
APLU filed a comment letter on Friday, November 6 in response to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) proposal to impose substantial new fees on institutions whose international students participate in Optional Practical Training (OPT). The association’s response makes unique contributions to the public record to reflect the distinct dynamics of land-grant and public research universities that render the proposal impractical, contrary to the national interest, and potentially unlawful if finalized.  

Under the proposed rule, institutions would be required to pay $70,000 for an initial OPT recommendation and $30,000 for subsequent recommendations, including STEM OPT extensions. The consequences for land-grant and public research universities could be extraordinary. APLU estimates its members alone could face approximately $10 billion in fees during the transition year if OPT participation remained at recent levels and costs were not transferred to students or employers, neither of which are practical as explained in APLU’s letter.  

The letter notes that DHS did not analyze the financial impact on the 1,044 public institutions covered by the rule or sufficiently consider the governance processes that affect whether public institutions could absorb or pass along fees of this magnitude.  
 
Key Resource on Immigration Policy: APLU compiled a chart that details the most significant policy proposals/actions of the Executive Branch that would create challenges for securing and retaining international talent and related association communications. 

Senate Releases FY27 Agriculture Appropriations Bill 
The Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) began releasing FY27 appropriations bills on Tuesday evening, including the agriculture funding measure that includes many of APLU’s priority accounts critical to land-grant universities and colleges of agriculture nationwide. APLU was pleased to see modest increases in nearly all priority accounts in the Senate bill relative to both the FY27 House Ag Appropriations bill, and the FY26 enacted funding levels. In the bill summary the majority released, appropriators specifically called out “$1.7 billion for the National Institute of Food and Agriculture – including an increase for land grant formula funding to research and extension programs which have been level since FY22”  

The  bill text, Majority’s summary, and explanatory statement are available as resources for APLU members. 

The release of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations bill is the first Fiscal Year 2027 measure from the Senate with APLU priority accounts, though more bills may be released soon. APLU has updated its appropriations tracker to include the latest Senate numbers.  

The release of Senate appropriations bills comes as Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-WA) has signaled support for another Continuing Resolution (CR) that would punt resolution of FY27 to next year when Democrats will have control of the House and Senate. Chair Collins and others may prefer to resolve FY27 spending in the lame duck, though time to negotiate between parties and chambers is extremely limited. The government is currently operating under a CR which expires December 11th. 

APLU, AAU Send House & Senate Armed Services Committee Leaders FY27 NDAA Conference Letter 
The House and Senate Armed Services Committees are working to reconcile differences in their versions of the FY27 NDAA (H.R. 8800) and (S. 4784) and approve a compromise bill during the lame duck session. On November 2, the presidents of APLU and AAU wrote to the Chairs and Ranking Members of the committees, outlining their FY27 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) priorities. An accompanying talking points document outlines key requests and provisions of support.  

The letter thanks the committees for their strong track record in working with the academic community on provisions to protect U.S. research investments from malign foreign theft. However, APLU is particularly concerned with language that overreaches and substantially impedes appropriate and beneficial international partnerships that further national interest. This includes a request to refine Senate Section 220 ‘Codification of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) Research Security Program’ to protect fundamental international research collaborations by narrowing the scope of contract prohibitions to DOD-funded awards and DOD-supported researchers.  

APLU also opposes the inclusion of the DETERRENT Act, which would significantly and inappropriately expand the authority of the U.S. Department of Education to approve research contracts and needlessly duplicate other federal research agencies’ efforts to strengthen research security and foreign partnership reporting requirements. 

APLU Joins Coalition Urging Congress to Uphold Restrictions on Uniform Guidance 
APLU joined a coalition of 115 organizations in a letter urging congressional leaders to protect Congress’s authority over federal spending. The coalition urged Congress to stop federal agencies from implementing provisions of the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) proposed changes to the Uniform Guidance—the rules governing federal grants. The coalition warns that these actions could undermine Congress’s spending authority and leave federal grant recipients facing uncertainty, conflicting requirements, and higher compliance costs. 

The current continuing resolution (CR), temporarily funding the federal government through December 11, bars OMB from finalizing or implementing the proposed rule through the length of the CR. However, several federal agencies have begun advancing policies that align with proposed revisions to Uniform Guidance. APLU is tracking these actions and coalescing the association’s comments and responses.  

APLU Joins Higher Education Associations in Urging IRS to Withdraw Tax-Exempt Status Proposal 
APLU joined other higher education associations in a comment letter sent on October 29, urging the U.S. Department of Treasury and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to withdraw a proposed rule aimed at ending “federal tax-exempt status for private schools that engage in racial discrimination.”  

Go Deeper: The letter argues that the proposal goes beyond the IRS’s legal authority and is exceedingly vague for institutions to understand how it would apply. It also warns that the proposal puts institutions’ established interests and freedoms at risk and lacks necessary procedural protections. The associations urge the IRS to abandon the proposal entirely or, at a minimum, narrow its scope and revise it to address these concerns. 

U.S. Department of Labor Submits Final Prevailing Wage Rule to White House for Review 
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) submitted its final rule to increase prevailing wages to the White House on Friday for review before publication in the Federal Register. The rule, Improving Wage Protections for the Temporary and Permanent Employment of Certain Foreign Nationals in the United States, is now with the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), part of the Office of Management and Budget, for review and clearance prior to publication in the Federal Register.  This serves as the last procedural step before the agency publishes a final rule and signals that the Department of Labor intends to move forward with the rule after reviewing public comments. While the proposed rule did not specify an implementation date, institutions should expect to see one provided in the final rule and may wish to assess impacts and prepare for any adjustments. 

APLU submitted comments in May on the proposal, which seeks to raise prevailing wage floors—the required wage levels employers must offer visa holders within an employment classification—for certain employment-based visas, including H-1B, E-3, H-1B1, as well as PERM. The proposed rule offered increases across all four wage levels, bringing: 

• Wage Level I from the 17th percentile to the 34th percentile,  

• Wage Level II from the 34th to the 52nd,  

• Wage Level III from the 50th to the 70th,  

• Wage Level IV from the 67th to the 88th. 

Why It Matters: APLU argues that the rule would create particular challenges for land-grant and public research universities and their work in research, teaching, and healthcare. The association’s comments emphasize that: 

• Land-grant and public research universities do not utilize foreign national hiring to undercut U.S. workers; 

• Land-grant and public research institutions face unique employee compensation constraints; 

• Increasing wages for a subset of employees would likely trigger broader compensation issues; and 

• The proposal does not account for the role of H-1B employment in retaining international graduates educated in the United States. 

APLU’s Position: In its comments, APLU urged DOL to withdraw the proposed rule or, at a minimum, exempt higher education institutions or delay implementation. APLU also joined higher education community comments submitted by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR). 

APLU Comments on Proposed Rule to Eliminate Discretionary 60-day Grace Period 
APLU filed a comment letter on November 10 urging the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to withdraw its proposed rule eliminating the discretionary 60-day grace period for employment-based visa holders following the cessation of their employment. The affected population includes individuals holding H-1B and O-1 status. APLU emphasizes that the grace period is important to retaining U.S. talent, as eliminating it could discourage employment transitions and further limit the talent pool for highly specialized positions. The letter describes how requiring individuals to depart the United States immediately or within an insufficient period following an involuntary loss of employment is unnecessarily harsh and fails to account for the human realities of these situations.  

The RISE Act Passed the Senate 
The RISE Act, which would require data reporting on outcomes of students with registered with offices of disability services, passed the Senate by unanimous consent yesterday. APLU worked with the HELP Committee on the data elements of the legislation to address concerns about reporting burden and student privacy. Given the improvements in the bill to address APLU’s concerns, the association endorsed the bill. In addition to the data reporting requirements, the legislation would also ensure that students don’t have to re-do burdensome diagnostic testing for an already documented disability. 

Action in the House is uncertain at this time with a short period left in the lame-duck session. In addition to the RISE Act, the Senate HELP Committee is exploring possible paths forward for other priorities, including the College Transparency Act, which passed committee earlier in the year.