Funding for the Department of Education’s Title VI/Fulbright-Hays International Education programs has been cut by $50 million (or 40%) for the current fiscal year (from $126 million in FY 2010 to $76 million in FY 2011). It is critical that you write your Members of Congress now and ask them to restore funding for these programs in the FY 2012 federal budget.

In May, applicants learned that competitions for six of the fourteen programs funded under the Department’s International Education and Foreign Language account have been cancelled for FY 2011, including the following: American Overseas Research Centers, Business and International Education, Fulbright-Hays Training Grants (Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad and International Research & Studies), Undergraduate International Studies, and Foreign Languages.

Grantees are also being notified of devastating cuts to non-competing continuation grants (used to fund multiple-year projects). In addition to the programs listed above, 50% cuts have also been announced for the following: National Resource Centers, Language Resource Centers, and Centers for International Business Education and Research.

Our partners at the National Humanities Alliance have set up a template message for you to customize, including sample bullet points. We strongly encourage you to personalize this message. Tell Congress, in your own words, why one or more of the Title VI/Fulbright Hays programs are important to you (and/or your institution, field, state, the nation at large).