How US Research Funding Cuts Are Shrinking PhD and Master's Admissions
By Muntasir • Published Jul 08, 2026 • Updated Sep 20, 2026 • Canadians Studying Abroad, Canada Higher Ed News & Policy
NIH and NSF funding freezes and terminations in 2025 pushed major US universities to cut or pause PhD admissions for 2026-27, with Harvard cutting science PhD seats by more than 75%. If you are applying to a funded US graduate program this cycle, expect fewer open seats and more conditional funding offers.
💵 NIH had about $2.3 billion unspent across roughly 2,500 grants frozen or terminated as of November 2025.
The administration proposed cutting NSF's fiscal year 2026 budget by about 55%; NSF's actual FY2025 grantmaking fell roughly 20-25%. Separately, NSF cut over 1,300 grants worth about $700 million in unspent funds.
Harvard, Columbia, University of Chicago, Brown, Princeton, Michigan State and Boston University paused or cut PhD admissions for 2026-27.
🎓 AIP initially projected a 13% decline in first-year physics/astronomy graduate enrollment for fall 2025; AIP's later data, collected through December 2025, put the actual decline at 7-9%, or roughly 300 fewer students.
Department chairs expect sharper cuts for the 2026-27 cycle.
What triggered the cuts
The US federal government froze NIH grant reviews starting in January 2025 and proposed a 15% cap on indirect cost reimbursement to universities. By November 2025, NIH had about $2.3 billion in unspent funds tied to roughly 2,500 grants that were frozen or terminated, according to The Scientist's reporting on the cuts .
The administration proposed cutting NSF's fiscal year 2026 budget by about 55%; NSF's actual FY2025 grantmaking fell roughly 20-25%. More than 1,300 NSF grants, worth roughly $700 million in unspent funds, were cut.
How a grant freeze turns into fewer PhD offers
Most funded STEM PhD positions in the US pay a stipend, typically $25,000 to $40,000 a year, plus a full tuition waiver. That money almost always comes from a faculty member's federal research grant, awarded by NIH for biomedical fields or NSF for physical sciences, engineering and computing. When a grant shrinks or ends, the faculty member no longer has the money to fund the students that grant was meant to support.
Departments respond by admitting fewer funded students, since a department will not promise years of funding it has no money to pay for. Some departments went further and rewrote the standard wording of their offer letters to stop guaranteeing funding for the full length of the program.
Which programs have cut and by how much
Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences cut science division PhD seats by more than 75% for 2026-27 and arts and humanities seats by 60%. Columbia cut admissions by about 65% in comparable programs. Chicago, Brown, Princeton, Michigan State and Boston University also paused or reduced doctoral admissions for the same cycle, though exact figures for those schools are not published.
AIP initially projected a 13% decline in first-year physics/astronomy graduate enrollment for fall 2025 based on a survey of 115 of 292 department chairs, according to AIP's survey data ; AIP's later data, collected through December 2025, put the actual decline at 7-9%, or roughly 300 fewer students, about half the original estimate. The decline was steeper at private institutions (25%) than public ones (7%). Eighteen percent of departments reported at least one faculty member losing federal funding outright, and another 28% expected similar news within six months, per Physics Today's coverage .
What this means if you are applying this cycle
If you are a Canadian applicant targeting a funded US master's or PhD program for 2026-27, expect fewer open seats than in previous years and a longer wait for a funding decision, since many departments hold offers until they know their own budget. Read any funding offer carefully for guarantees versus conditional language, covered in our companion guide on reading a US graduate funding offer. Ask the department directly whether your stipend is guaranteed for the full program or reviewed year to year.
Canadian students cannot access US federal student aid, so a reduced or conditional offer means the funding gap has to come from a Canadian source: a tri-agency award such as SSHRC, NSERC or CIHR, a university-specific fellowship, or personal funds. Confirm portability rules directly with the granting agency before you turn down a partial offer.