Three years versus one. For most Nepali families weighing a US master’s, that single difference decides whether the loan makes sense.
A father from Butwal put it to us bluntly last intake: “If my daughter can work three years after the degree, I will sign at the bank tomorrow. If it is one year, I want to think again.” He was asking, without knowing the term, about the STEM OPT extension.
He was right to ask before signing. The work window after graduation is not a footnote — it is the repayment plan. Here is how it works, as of early 2026, with the standing warning that US work-authorisation rules are political weather. Confirm the current rules before you build a loan around them.
First, plain OPT
Optional Practical Training is the standard work permission attached to an F-1 student visa. After completing your degree, you can apply for up to 12 months of full-time work authorisation in a job related to your field of study.
You apply through your university’s international office and then to USCIS, with a fee and a processing wait of a few months — which is why students apply in their final semester, not after graduating. You do not need a job offer to apply for OPT itself. You do need to find work within a limited unemployment window (90 days on standard OPT) or the authorisation lapses.
Twelve months is short. By the time a graduate settles into a role, the countdown is half over, and employers know it. That is the problem the extension solves.
What the STEM OPT extension adds
If your degree is in a qualifying science, technology, engineering or mathematics field, you can apply to extend OPT by a further 24 months. Twelve plus twenty-four: roughly three years of US work authorisation on the same student visa, no employer lottery required.
The catch-list matters, so here it is honestly. Your degree must appear on the government’s official STEM Designated Degree Program List — the university’s marketing page saying “STEM-designated!” is a claim you verify against the list, using the programme’s CIP code, before you apply to the university. Your employer must be enrolled in E-Verify, which most established companies are and some small ones are not. You and the employer file a formal training plan (Form I-983). And you get an extra 60 days of allowed unemployment across the extension, which is breathing room but not a holiday.
Which degrees qualify? Computer science, data science, most engineering disciplines, mathematics, statistics and most laboratory sciences, yes. Plain MBA, no — though certain quantitative business programmes, like business analytics or financial engineering, have qualifying CIP codes. Two programmes with near-identical names at the same university can differ. Check the code, not the brochure.
How three years changes the maths
Now the part the father from Butwal actually cared about.
Take a funded-nothing worst case: a two-year master’s costing USD 70,000 all-in, financed largely by a loan against property in Nepal. On 12 months of OPT at a typical starting salary of USD 70,000–90,000 for STEM graduates as of early 2026, a frugal graduate might clear USD 25,000–35,000 after tax and living costs. Meaningful, but against a NPR 90 lakh loan, not decisive.
On three years, the same graduate can plausibly clear USD 90,000–120,000 — enough to retire the loan entirely and bank a start. The degree changes from an expense the family absorbs into an investment that pays itself off before the visa question even arises.
This is why we tell students choosing between two similar admits: the STEM OPT extension eligibility of the specific programme is worth more than twenty places on a ranking table. It is also why a qualifying master’s from a modest public university in Kansas often beats a non-qualifying programme from a bigger name.
Two hedges belong in every family’s calculation. First, the extension requires finding and keeping qualifying employment — three years is the ceiling, not a guarantee. Second, these rules have been challenged, amended and litigated before, and they can change again. Build a plan that survives a bad case: choose a degree with strong Nepal and third-country employment value too, not one that only works if every American rule holds.
What Nepali students get wrong about OPT
Three recurring mistakes from our files.
Choosing the programme by name, not code. A student from Kavre came to us after a different consultancy had placed her in an “MS in Management Information Systems” she assumed was STEM. At that particular university, the programme’s CIP code did not qualify. We caught it before she paid her deposit — she switched to the same university’s business analytics programme, which did qualify, and she is now on her extension in Minneapolis. One afternoon of checking; three years of difference.
Ignoring the calendar. OPT applications, I-983 filings and extension deadlines run on fixed windows. A student who flies home for Dashain in their final autumn semester and misses an application window has no appeal on grounds of festival.
And treating OPT as the plan itself. OPT is a bridge — to an H-1B sponsorship, a further degree, or a strong return home. Students who spend the first six months “settling in” instead of job-hunting burn the bridge from both ends.
If you are still comparing programmes, our counsellors check CIP codes and current OPT rules as a standard part of shortlisting — the process is laid out on our USA study page.
Before you decide anything expensive
If a loan against family property is part of your US plan, the work-authorisation question deserves an hour of serious attention before any bank paperwork. Which programmes on your shortlist qualify for the STEM OPT extension, what the realistic earning window looks like for your field, and what happens to the plan if rules tighten — these have concrete answers for your specific case.
We go through them, free, at any Start Education office: Putalisadak in Kathmandu, Butwal, Banepa or Ghorahi. Over 4,000 students since 2018, and the ones with the smoothest loans were the ones who did this arithmetic before signing, not after. Book a free counselling session and bring your shortlist — we will check the codes together.