Certain universities of the United States reduce or interrupt their doctoral admissions due to the uncertainties of federal financing resulting from actions taken by the administration of American president Donald Trump. Few universities have published public statements on their strategies, so that potential graduate students have largely remained in the dark on which institutions reduce. Nature spoke to several young scientists taken in confusion. Some have received universities emails indicating that they were accepted without funding for uncertainties; Others have been informed that the programs are completely interrupted.
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At the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, some potential students even received informal offers to join the higher education program, to have them canceled later, According to the institution’s newspaper, The Pennsylvanian daily.
“Everything is horrible,” said a professor at university, who asked for anonymity because they are involved in admissions. “They cut the heart of the university’s intellectual mission.” The university did not respond to requests for comments.
At the center of most troubles is the National Institutes of Health (NIH) American, which, with an annual budget of $ 47 billion, is the largest public funder in the world of biomedical research. Financing of research subsidies nih has largely frozen for the past monthDue to the measures taken by the Trump administration to reduce federal spending. The frost persisted despite the order of a federal judge to release money. Separately, under Trump, The NIH tried to reduce the rate paid to American research institutions for “general costs” This, for example, keep the electricity and pay the rent in the researchers’ workspaces. The agency proposed to reduce the rate between 40% and 70% to a 15% dish – a potential loss of billions of dollars for universities. A coalition of universities, as well as lawyers general of 22 states have continued to stop politics, which, according to them, is illegal, and a federal judge temporarily prevented it from taking effect.
Due to the shortage of information from universities restricting their admissions, researchers have information on the institutions affected on social networks. Nature contacted nearly 30 universities in a list of programs, Posted on the Bluesky platformTo check the information. Some, such as the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, confirmed that they had interrupted admissions. Others, including Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, said that their cuts had not been made in response to the current federal financing situation. More than 60% did not respond.
Uncertain future
Although many programs concerned are in biomedical sciences, As the report in Stat detailedUncertainty about federal funds exists in a number of disciplines. A potential doctoral student who applied to the physics program at Arizona University in Tucson received a temporary rejection email, with which they shared Nature. “We are really impressed by your exceptional academic file,” says correspondence, but “recent uncertainties in American federal funding policies have had a considerably impact on our admission process. For the moment, we cannot offer you an offer, despite your solid ranking in our candidate swimming pool ”. The Arizona University did not respond to a request for comments.
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“It’s terribly demoralizing,” explains the potential student who, with other interviews for this story, asked for anonymity out of fear for their admission opportunities. “I also feel terrible for the departments, whose teachers have spent so much time reading applications and choosing their new students to discover that they cannot be funded. I think everyone has made the carpet completely withdrawn under them. The student says that it is grateful to have entered other programs.
But not all students were so lucky. Whoever applied to a social science program at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, received an informal acceptance offer in January. Three weeks later, they received a letter from the school indicating that admission to the program had been interrupted for the year. “For the moment, I have no offer, and I don’t know if I want to stay in research or not,” they say. Vanderbilt did not respond to a request for comments.
Some universities have also stopped and restarted admissions in recent weeks, creating more confusion. For example, a student working in the Post-Baccalaureate program of the NIH had asked for a graduate student at the University of Pittsburgh. They received a letter from the university on February 24 which said that he suspended the admission of all graduate students. A day later, the university said Nature that the break has now been lifted. “Our objective is to properly support existing community members while adding in a responsible manner of new members to the community,” said a spokesperson.