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John Loeber: OPT is a motte-and-bailey — pitched as for the “best and brightest”…

2026-08-01 · 16:22 UTC ·@johnloeber ·1 min read

Brief

John Loeber argues OPT discourse is a motte-and-bailey: marketed as attracting the “best and brightest,” but in practice he saw ~“a couple hundred” resumes showing 5–10+ years of work abroad followed by no‑name US master’s (Stevenson, Union Commonwealth, Gannon) in “information systems” with “day‑1 CPT.” He urges tighter rules and loss of accreditation for exploitative programs; Jeremy Neufeld warns high OPT fees would have blocked future immigrant founders.

Why it matters

John Loeber: OPT is a motte-and-bailey — pitched as for the “best and brightest” but actually abused as a work visa; he reviewed “maybe a couple hundred resumes” over the past year showing a pattern of 5+ or 10+ years of work experience abroad before enrolling in US master’s programs.

Key details

  • Loeber cites no-name schools and program details: Stevenson University, Union Commonwealth University, Gannon University; many students enroll in master’s in “information systems” programs that advertise “day‑1 CPT,” allowing immediate full‑time work, and often don’t need to attend classes.
  • Loeber (an OPT beneficiary) urges tightening regulations and stripping accreditation/participation from exploitative schools; Jeremy Neufeld counters that immigrant founders first came as students and that a $100,000 OPT fee would have deterred many founders who only become O‑1 eligible later.
Source evidence

I’m frustrated by this OPT discourse because it’s a giant motte-and-bailey fallacy.

The pitch is the best and brightest. The reality is that it’s being abused as a work visa. I’ve run into this countless times over the last year — maybe saw a couple hundred resumes? — that matched this pattern.

5+ or 10+ years of work experience abroad before enrolling in a masters program at a US university that you’ve never heard of. Stevenson University, Union Commonwealth University, Gannon University, and so on. Masters degrees in “information systems”. Many of these programs specifically advertise themselves as “day-1 CPT” which means that you can pick up a full time job as part of your study program immediately.

When you hear “student” in this discourse, you think “18 year old going to Harvard.”

But what you’re getting are people in their 30s getting nonsense masters degrees from no-name universities where they don’t even need to show up for class. This simply doesn’t match what you’d think of as a “student”.

I am all for OPT as a means of bringing in the best and brightest, and providing a pathway for undergraduate or doctoral students who spend a formative period of their lives here. I was an OPT beneficiary and am grateful for it. But the legitimacy of this program is challenged by what strikes me as obvious, cynical abuse.

Importantly, the “students” are not really to blame — they’re just responding rationally to incentives. But the regulation is set up prone for degree mills to exploit. This ought to be tightened. And I suspect that a lot of these “universities” should lose their accreditation or right to participate in it.

Jeremy Neufeld (@JeremyLNeufeld)

These immigrant founders of billion-dollar companies first came to the US as students.

A $100,000 fee on OPT would have lost us many of them.

Founders like these would be eligible for an O-1 today, after they've built their companies. But not when they were getting started.

— https://nitter.net/JeremyLNeufeld/status/2083207466301456430#m