Highly Possible in 2014: USCIS is potentially going to enable F-1 nonimmigrant students who complete a 1 year (OPT) to qualify for the 17-month extension based on either a prior STEM degree or the most recent degree granted if it in a STEM area. This means that if one has previously a STEM degree but currently in non-STEM degree OPT (1year) will be able to extend to the 17-month STEM OPT. This is in addition to the inclusion of fields such as Veterinary Sciences, Pharmaceutical Science, Economics and Behavioural Sciences to the expanded list of STEM qualifed degrees. The complete list is available at http://www.ice.gov/doclib/sevis/pdf/stem-list.pdf
This means that if your most recent degree is Business Administration and you are on an 1 year OPT as it is not in the STEM list but your previous F-1 based American degree is "Live Stock Management" or "Poultry Science" you get an 17 month extension . On a serious note this is very helpful for people with a Economics, Agriculture or Pharmacy background from their home country who continue in the same area after arriving to the US but did not previously qualify for the STEM extension.
However there is little or no clarity on what are your 17 month extension prospects of Degree #2 in an non-STEM area if you have already utlized a 1year+17 month extension on your STEM qualified degree prior to enrolling into the second degree. This shall be more clear in the coming months.
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