Chicago ? A bipartisan federal commission is pushing for a dramatic increase in the number of U.S. college and university students taking classes in other countries.

In a study being released today, the Commission on the Abraham Lincoln Study Abroad Fellowship Program is proposing hundreds of millions in federal spending to place 1 million U.S. undergraduates in schools overseas by 2017.

“Study abroad is not a frill,” said Peter McPherson, chairman of the Lincoln Commission and former president of Michigan State University. “If you have a number of students go abroad and come back, it changes the way people can teach. It adds a global richness to a campus that just a few students abroad can’t achieve.”

The commission, proposed by the late Sen. Paul Simon, D-Ill., was created by Congress in 2004. It includes educators and members of Congress.

The panel wants Congress to commit $50 million annually starting next year, with nearly 90 percent of the money to be spent on grants and fellowships and distributed by national competitions and by schools. Schools would be required to sustain enrollment in study abroad programs to stay eligible for federal funds.

McPherson and other commission leaders said they hope one-year grants and fellowships as high as $5,000 per student would create more interest in overseas study among students and more participation by U.S. schools.

The commission also wants to send more students to Asian and Arab countries. More than 60 percent of U.S. students overseas study in Europe, McPherson said.

More than 190,000 U.S. college students studied in other countries in 2004, according to the Institute of International Education. The IIE oversees public and private exchange programs such as the graduate student-oriented Fulbright Scholarship, which will get $185 million from the federal government next year.

“I think it’s one of those big ideas that may catch the imagination of the country and certainly is much needed if we’re going to keep up with study abroad in this country,” said Peggy Blumenthal, executive vice president of the IIE. “Whether the funds can be found in a tight budget environment is something Congress is going to have to sort through.”

Some schools already offer stipends to supplement the cost of overseas studies. Some students rely on programs such as the Benjamin Gilman International Scholarship, which will get $3.7 million in government funding next year, said Bill DeLauder, executive director of the Lincoln Commission and former president of Delaware State University.

“Money is not the whole deal,” McPherson said. “What’s also important is the campus deciding that they’re going to make it practical to fit this into their curriculum.”