Many international scholarship programs expect that graduates will return home to apply their education for socioeconomic development, yet national contextual factors shape these anticipated outcomes. Through comparing Georgia and Moldova, this research examines how one contextual factor--the home government's reforms--influenced U.S. higher education graduates' pathways. Notably, the decade-old, pro-democratic revolutions in each country were identified as "critical moments" that shaped how international scholarship alumni estimated their role and responsibility in their country's progress. Findings contribute to nuanced understanding of how student mobility influences change in post-Soviet countries, leading to improved international education programs.