US universities cut staff and spending: Impact of Trump policies on the education sector

US universities cut staff and spending: Impact of Trump policies on the education sector

The Drastic cutbacks in the USA are forcing universities across the country to take far-reaching measures. Academic institutions are responding to US President Donald Trump's administration's cost-cutting plan with hiring freezes, travel restrictions and moratoriums on salary increases. At least one U.S. university has laid off employees, and other campuses are considering layoffs and short-time work arrangements.

The number of Schools and programs that have restricted graduate student admissions, continues to increase. The administration is threatening even deeper cuts, raising concerns among some scholars about the future of America's higher education system, which relies on federal money to fund everything from graduate student scholarships to maintenance and operating costs.

“The academic model that universities have relied on to conduct their research and fund their students is in crisis, because much of it has been funded in various ways by federal grants,” said Aseem Prakash, a political scientist at the University of Washington in Seattle. “This is a massive shock.”

The White House did not respond to a request for comment before publication.

Abrupt changes

The government has cut off several sources of income for universities. The US National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies have canceled research grants and Examination of new scholarship applications is suspended. Universities could also face drastic cuts in federal funding for indirect costs that are used to finance research institutions, as well as tax increases on foundations.

Dozens of campuses face even stricter restrictions. The U.S. Department of Education has announced that 60 U.S. colleges are under scrutiny for possible anti-Semitic harassment and discrimination. The ministry pointed out Demonstrations taking place on many campuses following the Israeli invasion of Gaza in 2023 began in response to Hamas attacks.

The government already has $400 million in federal grants and contracts for Columbia University in New York City "due to the school's continued inaction to protect Jewish students from discrimination," according to one official statement emerges.

On Wednesday, news outlets reported that the administration has put $175 million in federal funding on hold for the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia because of its support for transgender athletes. A university spokesman said the guidelines for student participation on sports teams are in line with national sports organizations' guidelines.

“The speed and scale of the federal attack is completely new,” said Daniel Greene, an information scientist at the University of Maryland in College Park.

Difficult job market

Amid cuts and concerns about the future, hiring freezes for all staff and faculty have been announced at institutions such as the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. Maryland's Interdisciplinary Institute for Artificial Intelligence planned to hire 40 faculty members in areas such as chip engineering, neural networks, political science, history and health. “That will probably now be reduced to three or four faculty members,” Greene said.

Other schools, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge and the University of Pennsylvania, have frozen hiring primarily for non-faculty positions.

Money-saving measures taken by universities include foregoing raises and promotions, as well as instructions to avoid non-essential travel and training. Spending has been frozen on conferences, meals and events - "the types of things that bring people together, which in many ways hurts morale even more," explains Jevin West, a computer scientist at the University of Washington. Universities are pausing spending on memberships, fees and subscriptions, and some are reviewing spending on new buildings and renovations.

The University of Washington restricts researchers from spending grant money until the money is made available. “This is a big problem,” says West. “If that goes away, the research process will slow down significantly.”

Demolition of the pipeline

A significant part of Universities restrict the admission of doctoral students. Many departments at MIT admitted fewer degrees this year. The Office of Health Sciences at West Virginia University in Morgantown has revoked offers of admission to students who had not yet returned their return receipts. And several dozen applicants to UMass Chan Medical School's Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in Worcester, Massachusetts, were told in early March that their provisional offers of admission had been withdrawn.