Two Triangle-area representatives in the US House, Reps. Deborah Ross and Valerie Foushee, have proposed federal legislation that would reauthorize Title VI of the Higher Education Act, supporting foreign language and international study programs at universities across the country.
The bill would make changes nationwide, but it has distinct North Carolina roots and could change how institutions in the state prioritize foreign languages. Ross said she “inherited” the bill from Rep. David Price, who retired from a more than 30-year career representing the state’s Fourth District in Congress in 2022.
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“Even though this was David Price’s bill, I value this because I majored in international relations in college, I studied two foreign languages and I studied abroad for a year,” Ross told Carolina Public Press.
“Doing that has made not just my life richer, but it’s made my ability to communicate with other people much easier, and I think has made a big difference in how I see the world.”
Fluctuating foreign language funding
The Higher Education Act, signed in 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnson, strengthened resources and provided financial assistance to higher education institutions. Title VI specifically funded global education programs, like international studies and foreign language centers.
Congress reauthorized an amended version of the act in 2008, though it has not been reauthorized since. In 2017, House Republicans, led by North Carolina’s Rep. Virginia Foxx, attempted to overhaul some of the bill’s Obama-era programs, but those changes did not pass Congress.
President Donald Trump’s proposed FY2026 budget asked that no money be put toward Title VI and the Fulbright-Hays Program, which funds overseas research and training, though they were funded anyway. Last month, the US Department of Education proposed rescinding Fulbright-Hays and Title VI regulations to “enable the department to align such programs with current and evolving priorities and needs, such as workforce readiness, national competitiveness, and returning education to the states.”
These moves are an attempt to undermine the importance of international education programs, Ross said.
“At a moment of unprecedented global competition, the United States cannot afford to fall behind in foreign language proficiency or international education,” Ross said in a press release.
“Yet the Trump administration has sought to eliminate funding for critical programs and attempted to dismantle key federal education funding entirely. It’s clear we must invest in the language and international education programs that strengthen our national security, expand opportunity, and keep America competitive.”
North Carolina’s requirements
Universities across the country have scaled back their foreign language programming, to the point that one report said the discipline is “in freefall.” In 2026, only 11% of colleges and universities require foreign language at the intermediate level, which is said to be the minimum needed for effective communication and intercultural awareness.
In North Carolina, universities have differing requirements for graduation. UNC-Chapel Hill requires students to demonstrate proficiency at a 203-level course, though some majors require further study. NC State University requires proficiency through at least a 102-level course, which could be satisfied with two years of study in high school. At UNC-Charlotte, language requirements depend entirely upon a student’s major.
Beginning in 2025, the University of North Carolina System made it so two foreign language courses in high school are no longer a requirement for admission to a UNC System school. While still choosing to take them in high school might make applicants more competitive, students can take two extra courses in English, math, science, social studies or computer science instead and still be eligible for admission.
The state legislature also passed a law, which went into effect in 2024, saying North Carolina high schools cannot require more than 22 credits for graduation. This caused school districts like Wake County, which had required 26 credits, to ditch its foreign language requirements, though they can be taken as electives.
Proposed legislation
While the bill won’t change any of these requirements in North Carolina or across the country, it gives an added incentive for universities to invest in the programs as many have gone in the opposite direction, Ross said.
Specifically, the Advancing International and Foreign Language Education Act would:
- Reauthorize and extend programs for international and foreign language studies, including National Resource Centers, Language Resource Centers, Undergraduate International Studies and American Overseas Research Centers.
- Reauthorize Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowships, allowing graduate students to receive stipends for studying foreign languages.
- Extend and update the International Research and Innovation program, including establishing a national database on international and foreign language education.
- Reauthorize and update programs for international business skills and education, including renaming and expanding activities in professional and technical training curricula.
On a practical level, university students would feel the effects of the bill through increased funding for foreign language instruction and learning opportunities. Ross suggested universities could roll out programs funded by the bill in specific areas like their business or medical schools or in their teacher education programs, or implement sweeping foreign language requirements once again.
The bill coming from two North Carolina representatives, and one Californian in fellow Democrat Rep. Jimmy Panetta, is notable because the Old North State would not be an economic powerhouse without the Research Triangle, and the Research Triangle is able to attract business from all over the world because the state values international trade, Ross said.
“Who attracted all of these companies? Jim Hunt, somebody who spent his formative years in Nepal, in a completely different country with a completely different culture and with foreign language,” Ross said.
“The people who come here from other parts of the country, but really all over the world, share these values and want to contribute to our economy. And they want their children to be able to learn English, but they also want their children to be able to learn the language that they speak at home, and they want their neighbors who are curious about them to be able to speak those languages too.
“… The whole world doesn’t speak English. And when we go out into the world, we have to show the world that we are willing to at least try to speak their language, and so this is absolutely, fundamentally crucial, particularly given the perilous times that we live in.”
With the current Republican majority in the US House, it could be a fight to pass a bill proposed by a full slate of Democratic lawmakers. A necessary strategy will be communicating how Republicans can find value in the funding, too.
One facet of that is relaying the usefulness of foreign language skills in the agriculture sector, Ross said, which is generally viewed as a bipartisan issue. Agriculture is one of North Carolina’s most important economic sectors, generating more than $100 billion each year, and the Farmworkers Advocacy Network says 94% of migrant farmworkers in the state are native Spanish speakers.
While the bill won’t come with stipulations about which languages should be prioritized in university programming, Ross believes people will gravitate toward languages that will be most useful to them, which many will likely find to be Spanish.
But regardless of which language the bill leads students to study, any language learned in addition to English will aid in intercultural understanding and communication. And the need for certain languages often ebbs and flows over time, Ross said.
She recalled the tale of former first lady Jackie Kennedy charming the standoffish former French president Charles de Gaulle with her knowledge of French language and history, which Kennedy studied in college.
“The minute that she spoke French to him, he completely changed his view of how he would interact with this new president of the United States,” Ross said.
“People want to interact with people who appreciate and understand their culture. You have to build a bridge.”
This article first appeared on Carolina Public Press and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.