The Commission on the Abraham Lincoln Study Abroad Fellowship Program was appointed, by Congress and the Bush Administration, to recommend a national program to greatly increase the number of Americans studying abroad. The Lincoln Commission released its report in November 2005, with a stated goal of one million American students studying abroad annually by 2016-2017. This number represents approximately 50% of the undergraduate degrees awarded annually by accredited American colleges and universities. The Abraham Lincoln Study Abroad Fellowship Program will play a large role in this effort.

To achieve this goal, the Lincoln Commission put forth the following recommendations:

Students should receive the lion’s share of program funding.
Diversity of students, institutions, and destinations should be a hallmark of the Lincoln Study Abroad Program.
Demanding quality control should characterize the Lincoln Study Abroad Program.
Fellowship and scholarship amounts should vary and be limited to one year.
Federal funding should begin with $50 million and increase to $125 million.
National leadership and support is essential.

However, in the Commission’s view there are three major challenges that stand between where the U.S. is today and the Commission’s goal:

Institutional leadership and commitment to the expansion of study abroad programs
Diversity of students and destinations
Financial barriers

All of us who are proponents of study abroad need to take action to support the Lincoln Commission. Students, parents, teachers, administrators and other interested parties, need to communicate the value of international education to campus administrators, as well as local, state, and national legislators.