§226 Cooperative Public and Private Sector Program for Providing Scholarships to Students From the Caribbean and Central America

Summary

Creates a scholarship program run by the USAID Administrator with states, colleges, and businesses to give scholarships to talented, socially and economically disadvantaged students from eligible Caribbean and Central American countries to study in the United States. The program aims to improve education access, help those countries’ development, promote cultural exchange and democratic values, build better U.S. relations with neighbors, and use public–private partnerships and community involvement. USAID can give grants to states for undergraduate degrees and for training programs lasting one year or longer in fields tied to the students’ countries’ development needs. Each state and USAID must agree on how to run the program, select students, and assign them, and states should have flexibility in designing their plans. The federal government must pay at least 50 percent of each participating state’s costs each year. The rest can come from nonfederal sources in cash or in-kind (for example, tuition waivers, in‑state tuition, housing help, books, or supplies). Any required repayment by a student is forgiven if the student returns to their home country and lives there for a period at least one year longer than the time they studied in the United States with the scholarship. States should seek private-sector help and internships. Funding must come from the Latin American and Caribbean regional programs under chapter 4 of part II of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2346 et seq.). “Eligible country” — a country receiving the specified U.S. assistance and designated under the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act. “State” — the states plus DC and the listed U.S. territories.