The University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business finance major will receive a STEM designation beginning in January 2026, granting international students in the program access to extended work authorization in the United States after graduation. This was announced in an email to the Mendoza College of Business’ undergraduate student body on Oct. 27, 2025.
Assistant Dean Andrew Wendelborn announced that in January 2026, the College’s most popular major will come with additional benefits for international students.
“I’m pleased to share that Mendoza’s finance major recently received a STEM designation from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. This means that the finance major is officially recognized as aligning with one or more fields in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics. Specifically, the finance major qualifies as STEM by being designated as financial mathematics,” the email read.
DHS keeps a list of majors that qualify for work authorization benefits after graduation. It’s up to the University to assign each major a CIP code aligned with the curriculum, and the finance major’s code was updated in the most recent review.
“All F-1 students who complete a degree are eligible to apply for 12 months of work authorization – or Optional Practical Training (OPT), and those with a STEM-designated degree, per Department of Homeland Security, are eligible to apply for an additional 24 months of authorization, or the STEM OPT Extension,” Leah Zimmer wrote in a statement to The Observer. Zimmer is the director of the Office for International Student and Scholar Affairs.
International students who are granted OPT can apply for an H-1B visa — non-immigrant visas for skilled workers — each year they are working in the United States. Because the visa application is essentially a lottery, extra chances to apply during the STEM OPT Extension increase the odds of landing a visa.
In an interview with an international student studying finance and economics, who was granted anonymity, they said they hadn’t yet experienced the mathematical rigor in the finance major.
“And I say that because, from what I know, the required classes don’t seem to be very mathematics intensive. That’s my understanding, obviously, I haven’t done many of the requirements, and I don’t know if I can fully comment on that with that knowledge that I have,” the student said.
According to Wendelborn, the designation change has no effect on the required coursework for students in the finance major.
“The STEM designation recognizes programs that include an enhanced level of quantitative and technical rigor,” the email read.
With the new designation going into effect, the student plans to drop their economics major, citing a lack of interest. Now that both majors have the STEM designation, they are free to focus on their primary interest, finance.
“I personally don’t have that interest, and I’m dropping it. And so from my perspective, a lot of the value of that major was the visa extension,” the student said.
International students majoring in finance can use any STEM-designated major to gain the OPT extension. However, economics and ACMS are two of the most common choices because of the way they complement the finance curriculum.
“If you think about international students as a subset of the school, it’s such a small portion, and then of those people being finance and econ, finance and ACMS, it’s just not a lot of people,” the student said. “But I would think that more people are dropping it than not. I don’t know if that’s based on any statistical evidence, but that’s just my opinion.”
The student added that their view wasn’t necessarily shared by everyone in their position and that many international students have a genuine interest in their STEM majors. Even with multiple economics classes under their belt, the student said they don’t feel compelled to finish the major.
“You know, I have done quite a few of the requirements over the past couple of years. But it’s also at the point where it’s just anecdotally, in my experience, I don’t think it$s worth it,” the student said. “I just don’t want to do the classes in econ, and that’s just it.”
The change comes in uncertain times for immigrants and international students in the United States. ISSA helps students at Notre Dame deal with that uncertainty.
“For F-1 or J-1 student related immigration status questions, it’s important to remember that students are navigating different priorities and circumstances, and their immigration status is intersecting with those,” Zimmer wrote.
H-1B visas, in particular, have been subject to discussion in the past year as they’ve come under scrutiny from the Trump administration.
“There has been a systemic issue of underpaying foreigners so that they can undercut domestic ones. That is an issue. But when you again look at it from the perspective of someone who was educated in the US and then is trying to stay, that just doesn’t apply the same, right? Like every bank is paying about the same money, right?” the student said.
ISSA doesn’t work with students on H-1B visas, but they do work with students on F-1 and J-1 student visas, helping to advise them throughout their time at Notre Dame.
“So we are constantly monitoring changes in the landscape, along with other entities on campus, and we keep students informed as changes impact them. For that reason, we prioritize one-on-one advising and working with students individually to navigate their questions,” Zimmer wrote.
The student said that the number of employers sponsoring H-1B visas has been decreasing, further creating uncertainty about working stateside after graduation.
“It’s obviously very hard to predict policy changes, so we’ll set that aside, but even from a perspective of increased uncertainty, that’s something that employers are not willing to take on,” the student said.