State Department to Pilot New Program for Refugees to Attend College

By next fall, refugee students may be able to apply to attend American colleges and universities. The State Department said it plans to pilot a new category for refugee admissions, known as P4.

P4 status would allow a group or institution to sponsor a refugee. A university sponsorship program would allow them to study in the U.S. and then apply for permanent residency.

Laura Wagner, project manager for the Initiative on U.S. Education Pathways for Refugee Students, part of the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, said the current foreign student visa program requires students to leave after they graduate.

“Right now, we are getting the best and the brightest of the world, and then we’re saying, ‘Thanks, now you have to go back to your home country,'” Wagner explained. “Whereas this would provide an opportunity for them to stay and continue to use and share those talents to their new community in the U.S.”

Read the full article on Public News Service here.