Impacts of Restrictions on Federal Grant Funding in Physics and Astronomy Graduate Programs
Stories about academic programs reducing the number of graduate students they will enroll due to changes in approaches to federal funding have recently made headlines.
- Colleges Restrict Graduate Student Admissions After NIH Proposes Rate Cut
- Disheartened by funding cuts, international students look beyond the US
- Iowa State University rescinds some admission offers for graduate students
Given the significance of this issue, AIP’s research team engaged in a systematic survey to better understand the extent of recent changes in federal funding and policy. We asked all 292 department chairs at departments offering graduate degrees in physics and astronomy in the US a few questions to better understand the impacts. Our questionnaire was in the field from April 3 to April 16. We received responses from 115 departments, 76 in public institutions and 39 in private institutions, to our brief survey; this is a 39% response rate. Here is what we learned.
Impact on the Number of First-Year Graduate Students
Overall, 37% of the responding department chairs said they expect to enroll fewer first-year graduate students in the fall of 2025 than they did the previous year, while 55% expect to enroll about the same number.
- More than half of the responding chairs at private institutions (55%) expect to enroll fewer students, and 39% expect to enroll the same number of first-year graduate students.
- For departments at public universities, 28% expect to enroll fewer first-year students, with 63% expecting the same number.
The number of first-year graduate students in physics and astronomy is anticipated to decline by about 13%.
- This is a projected decline of about 600 first-year graduate students.
- The number of first-year graduate students in private institutions is anticipated to decline by about 25%.
- The number of first-year graduate students in public institutions is anticipated to decline by about 7%.
- Many department chairs cautioned that the full picture had yet to emerge. They believe the decline in first-year students will be even larger in the Fall 2026 semester.
- The graph below shows the distribution of first-year graduate students across all departments. There is a distinct downward shift for the 2025 fall semester when compared to 2024.
The box plot above plots the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles with the bars on either end extending to the minimum and maximum.
The data for Fall of 2025 are projections for the responding departments, and the data for Fall of 2024 are actual numbers for those same departments.
Prevalence of Funding Cuts
Respondents from 18% of the departments reported at least one faculty member whose federal funding had been terminated or reduced. An additional 28% of departments expect such news within the next six months. That is almost half (46%) of the responding departments experiencing or anticipating cuts in federal funding.
- The outlook is more dire at private institutions than public institutions, with 34% having experienced cuts and another 29% anticipating cuts.
- For public institutions, the numbers are 9% with cuts and 28% anticipating cuts.
- We did not attempt to measure the magnitude of the cuts; we focused only on the prevalence across physics and astronomy departments.
Proportion of Departments Experiencing or Anticipating Faculty with Cuts in Federal Funding
Rescission of Graduate School Acceptance
As previously noted, department chairs told us it was too early to understand fully the impact on first-year graduate students for the Fall 2025 semester. Stories on individual programs and university departments indicated they were rescinding offers of acceptance to their graduate programs. Our survey data suggest that, so far, this has not happened in many cases.
- Only three department chairs told us they had already rescinded at least one offer.
- Some shared that they have changed the default language for their offers to students to no longer commit to providing funding during their program of study.
- Others told us their funding offers were limited to the first year of study only.
- Several department chairs told us their administration did not allow them to make follow-up offers when an offer was declined.
The Department Chairs Speak
We also gave all respondents the opportunity to provide any additional write-in comments. Department chairs shared concerns about demoralization of students and faculty, negative effects of hiring freezes brought about by funding uncertainty, and anxiety for students and faculty resulting in decreased well-being and productivity. Some also expressed considerable fear of the effects of changes in immigration and visa policy creating a brain drain as students and faculty look for opportunities in other countries. Below we provide direct quotes of comments from the department chairs in each of these areas.
Demoralizing Scientists at All Career Levels
Several department chairs noted that they see students and faculty being demoralized by these policy changes.
The main impact I see is the effect of uncertainty on morale. We have been told we can’t hire postdocs by the University, but we’ve been able to navigate those effects so far.
The climate of uncertainty, and the anticipation of cuts is definitely having a huge impact on morale across all department stakeholders. I think people want to see real and visible advocacy from our professional societies, partnerships, science leadership, etc.
Drop in morale, motivation and general well-being of students and faculty due to the prospect of funding cuts to Science.
Decreased Capacity for Scientific Research and Teaching
Several department chairs noted that uncertainty related to funding has prompted institutions to implement hiring freezes for faculty and staff positions and that this could have major impacts on the capability of their programs to support the scientific enterprise.
We have a hiring freeze in place. While there have been no significant changes so far, possible cuts to funding and FA [facilities & administrative] rates are a concern that we are preparing for.
The combination of lower enrollment, funding uncertainty due to federal policies, and contraction of state support, likely means that we will be unable to hire new faculty, even as older faculty retire.
There is a hiring “pause” across the university, that caused us to halt an on-going faculty search.
It is almost certain we will have to shrink the size of our graduate program in future years due to the anticipated reduction in federal funding. Faculty will have to get more adept at pursuing non-federal sources, but that is unlikely to cover the gap. Faculty and students alike are all very concerned, and I suspect some students will start to leave the program prematurely if they perceive academia/national labs as an increasingly nonviable path for the future.
Anxiety and Uncertainty Resulting in Decreased Wellbeing and Productivity
Several department chairs commented that uncertainty around funding is already having significant negative effects on the productivity of their faculty and students in engaging in scientific research.
One cannot work like this - all energy goes in thinking how to survive and not think in physics - it is like being in the war - no one can be productive in climate like this – It is the end of the US scientific and technical dominance in the world – we will not recover from this in a decade.
The fluctuations in executive-level talk about reduction in grants is sowing significant concern amongst the faculty. Distracting faculty from their research and teaching duties, through the introduction of half-baked plans to cut funding, is detrimental to the responsibilities of our university and therefore our nation.
With the abrupt and significant cuts to well established programs I am anticipating, I expect to lose research productivity, have serious interruptions or even killing of young scientist careers, decimation of our infrastructure and staff to support grant-funded research.
An extraordinary amount of concern and fear, particularly among early career scientists.
Uncertainty is extremely stressful and upsetting to students and faculty. Our department is almost entirely funded through NASA where there have as yet been few impacts, but the expectations of coming cuts is very concerning and is causing everyone to be more cautious.
There is a lot of uncertainty and associated anxiety among faculty and students, which is why we have organized town halls, try to talk with faculty and students about these topics when we hear about certain anxieties, etc.
The impacts are largely psychological, due to anticipation of changes. The graduate students are extremely worried that their advisors may lose funding and as a result they may not finish their PhD work. The university/department(s) are also worried that reduced overhead will impact laboratory support.
Immigration and Visa Policy’s Effects on the Scientific Enterprise
Several department chairs shared concerns about how the administration’s immigration and visa policies are affecting students and faculty. They note that they are concerned this may also result in a brain drain of scientific talent from the United States to other countries.
Like in many universities we have a large percentage of graduate students who are here on a visa, so it is within the realm of possibilities that we will see a decrease in enrollment simply because it seems it’ll be harder to secure a visa.
The impacts on travel/collaborations are hitting. I have young faculty in the process of getting a green card that are scared to leave the US (and the advice we are getting is to advise them not to leave). People are discussing what to delete from their phones before travel/using a burner. At my most recent meeting the British and Canadian researchers did not come. We have had undergraduates in our intro classes who have had their visas revoked.
We have seen departures of scientists leaving the country because of the unpredictable/hostile environment.
What I do already see is a chilling effect on foreign postdocs and students, and increasing interest in our graduate students to look for positions abroad.
Links to Articles Referenced
- Colleges Restrict Graduate Student Admissions After NIH Proposes Rate Cut
- Disheartened by funding cuts, international students look beyond the US
- Iowa State University rescinds some admission offers for graduate students
Methodology
We sent a brief questionnaire to department chairs in the 292 departments that offer a graduate degree in physics or astronomy in the US. The first request was sent April 3, with follow-up requests on April 9 and April 15. We closed the questionnaire on April 16. We received responses from 115 department chairs.
