International higher education organizations, including AACRAO, are seeking changes to the THRIVE Act, a new veterans' education law, that could impact foreign recruiting. The groups argue that the legislation, signed into law in June, could dissuade colleges from using commissioned agents in international student recruiting out of fear of losing access to GI Bill benefits, reports Inside Higher Ed.
A NAFSA: Association for International Educators analysis of the new law explains that it "instructs the State agencies that approve courses of study for GI Bill purposes to take action that could include not approving a school's new programs of study or disapproving previously-approved programs of study" if the agencies determine that the institution, or an entity it contracts with, engages in incentive-based student recruitment.
The Higher Education Act also prohibits incentive-based recruiting but includes an exception for recruiting students internationally. The use of commissioned agents in student recruiting is growing and is controversial, Inside Higher Ed reported. A recent survey by the American International Recruiting Council (AIRC) and the National Association for College Admissions Counseling (NACAC) found that 49 percent of 294 institutions surveyed partner with agents for international undergraduate recruitment.
AACRAO joined NAFSA and other higher education groups in a letter to House and Senate veterans' affairs committees to make technical corrections to the legislation to change the language in the THRIVE Act to align with that in the Higher Education Act.
NAFSA's executive director of public policy, Jill Allen Murphy, told Inside Higher Ed it is unclear how the Department of Veterans Affairs will implement the policy.
Related Link
Inside Higher Ed
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2021/09/20/veterans%E2%80%99-ed-law-may-have-consequences-foreign-recruiting