Exchange students Bagus Mahottama-Wijaya, Azra Tosun and Duygu Celik are worried.
In Feb., the Trump Administration approved a federal funding freeze affecting student exchange programs. The decision was a part of the Trump Administration’s ‘America First’ policy, which emphasizes domestic priorities over international engagement.
Mahottama-Wijaya, Tosun and Celik are all exchange students through the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES).
According to its website, the YES program brings high school students from “countries of strategic importance to the United States” and is funded through the US Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Exchange Programs.
Students in the YES program are on scholarships to attend. The program uses their funding for a variety of things including health insurance, monthly stipends for students, emergency funds and travel costs.
Tosun says that the YES program is a highly selective scholarship program. Applicants must complete a personality test, math test and English test, as well as complete interviews.
Tosun is a senior at Milwaukee High School but a junior in her home country of Turkey.
“[The application process] depends on your program, but since I was on a scholarship with the YES program, I started my application in September and then I was selected in May. It was almost a year-long process. … It’s competitive since they select [around] 50 participants from [Turkey],” said Tosun.
According to Pie News, an international educational news website, on Feb. 13, grantees of exchange programs across the United States were informed about the funding freeze.
Lincoln senior Bagus Mahottama-Wijaya is an exchange student from Indonesia. He says that the program is reliant on funding from the US State Department.
“Most of the people that are in this program are from countries that don’t exactly have easy access to the United States, and usually don’t have the funds to go on an exchange program on their own,” said Mahottama-Wijaya.
Mahottama-Wijaya says that the ongoing suspension of international education and exchange programs has brought about uncertainty for students.
“We’re still in a gray zone right now, and this has brought several changes,” Mahottama-Wijaya said. “First of all, a lot of my friends haven’t gotten their stipend. A stipend is a monthly amount [$200] that we get to support ourselves. Secondly, is our insurance. Our insurance also comes from the State Department and their partners, and they haven’t continued payments. We have this thing called emergency funds that each placement organization has and we don’t have access to that [right now].”
The Cardinal Times reached out to the YES Participant Support Specialist, Nadia Rodela, for clarification but she was unable to be interviewed.
Duygu Celik, senior at Marysville Charter Academy of the Arts in California is an exchange student from Turkey. Celik says that the freezing of the funds put her into a panic because of the lack of information.
“Exchange students aren’t harming the community or the country. We are doing 100 hours of volunteering and community service on our exchange year,” said Celik.
Tosun is afraid that this funding freeze is just the tip of the iceberg.
“We’re probably going to be the last students for at least four years,” said Tosun. “I know that the website closed new applications for next year’s program […] I don’t think they’re going to be sending any [new] exchange students with the YES program.”
Visit the website of the Alliance for International Education for more information on what type of advocacy is currently being done.
This is a developing story and will be updated online as information is available.