On Aug. 12, President Donald Trump’s administration issued a memo through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Student Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) informing all SEVP-certified schools, which includes Michigan Tech, of a rise in Curricular Practical Training (CPT) authorizations that seem to violate CPT regulations.
CPT is defined as “alternative/work study, internship, or cooperative education …that is offered by sponsoring employers through cooperative agreements with the school.” Previously, elective for-credit courses were widely accepted. With the new restrictions allowing authorization of CPT only for fulfilling degree curriculum requirements, the opportunities for F-1 visa status holders, the most common visa for international students, to gain industry experience could be limited.
Another memo, issued on Aug. 24, provided guidance and clarity on when CPT may be approved. While the policy for CPT has not directly changed, Broadcast Messages 2608-01 and 2608-02 explicitly state CPT must only be approved for “an integral element of an established curriculum.” This change in policy enforcement directly impacts the ability for international students to acquire work opportunities during their degree timeline. The first broadcast message stated, “failure to comply with SEVP regulations may result in an institution losing certification to enroll foreign students.”
Similar to many schools across the country, Michigan Tech paused authorization of CPT after receiving the first message on Aug. 12. According to Director of International Programs and Services (IPS) Christian Montesinos, Michigan Tech is “being very conservative about [the CPT policy enforcement changes], like a lot of institutions, but the entire breadth of [the changes] is not quite known.” Montesinos said that many things are still unknown about how strictly the new CPT policy interpretations will be applied and how it will affect students, “because even though the broadcast messages are sort of interpretations of the policy, we haven’t seen any actual change in the policy.”
IPS has been working closely with Career Services to work with international students on internships and co-ops, and reaching out to employers to update them on the situation and build assurance that students are not unwilling to commit to jobs, but are instead concerned about federal restrictions. When asked about how CPT limitations will impact international students with Career Fair approaching, Montesinos stated the SEVP policy enforcement changes are “going to put them in the back of the line.”
International graduate student Shammas Shafi stated that international students lack information about the policy changes and it would be beneficial “if Tech could get out a memo letting students know how changes are going to affect them and what they have to do.” When Montesinos was asked about IPS communications with students regarding CPT, he said IPS is currently navigating communications on a case by case basis “because everyone’s situation is so vastly different,” and a blanket email could cause fear in students.
The Graduate Student Government declined to comment on the implications of the memo, citing bylaws which state that they are not a political organization.
For more information about the CPT changes and the recent broadcast messages from SEVP, visit ice.gov/sevis. To learn more about how the SEVP policy enforcement changes will impact Michigan Tech students, visit mtu.edu/international/ or speak with IPS in Administration Building 200.
