The Trump administration has proposed a 55% cut to the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) budget for 2018, which would cripple our nation's ability to participate in international education and cultural exchange programming. The proposed cut would bring the exchanges funding level to just $285 million—a sharp and concerning decrease from the 2017 level of $634 million.

Educational and cultural exchanges are a cost-effective means of conducting public diplomacy. These programs cost less than 1% of the federal budget to maintain, yet they added more than $32 billion to the U.S. economy in 2015. The return-on-investment of student exchange is immense.

Such deep cuts to ECA would greatly harm our nation’s public diplomacy efforts and, ultimately, our national security and economy. Join the effort by sending a letter to your Congressperson, letting them know the value of youth exchange in our local communities and nationwide.