Amidst financial uncertainties following the Trump administration's announcements to cut federal grants and contracts, and the National Institute of Health's 15 percent cuts on indirect costs, a number of top US universities are adopting measures including freezing hires, laying off staff, and decreasing graduate student admissions. 

Harvard University

On March 10, 2025, Harvard President Alan Michael Garber announced a temporary university-wide staff and faculty hiring freeze effective immediately across all of Harvard's schools. He added that the freeze will help the university preserve its financial flexibility till it understands how changes in federal policy will take shape. There's a further possibility of research funding cuts, with the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) at Harvard notifying faculty and staff that effective immediately, all graduate students on the waitlist for admission next fall would be denied admission.

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Harvard, among other top US universities, freezes hiring amid financial uncertainties under Trump

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

On March 4, 2025, Sally Kornbluth, President of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announced that the university is instituting "a hiring freeze on all staff positions that are not required for safety, compliance or other critical needs." Additionally, in the plans for its central budget for the next year, MIT is making 5-10 percent cuts for their academic and administrative units.  

University of Pennsylvania

In late February, University of Pennsylvania notified department chairs that it would reduce graduate programme admissions rates by about one third. Consequently, many of the graduate offers that were approved by the departments are being rescinded.  Additionally, on March 10, the university announced a hiring freeze and a pause on adjustments to staff salary for this fiscal year. 

University of Washington

University of Washington (UW) faces the double uncertainty of federal funding cuts and state budget shortfalls. On March 7, 2025, in a message addressed to university leadership, Ana Mari Cauce, President, and Tricia R Serio, Provost and Executive Vice President, announced a range of cost-cutting measures including a pause on all non-essential, in-progress staff recruitments as well as new hiring requests, limitations on faculty and academic personnel recruitments, and a constraint on all non-core activities that do not directly support instruction, research, and public service missions, including programmes launched with one-time funding.

Columbia University

Earlier in March, the Trump administration cut USD 400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia University. Four government agencies announced in a statement "the immediate cancellation of approximately $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia University due to the school's continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students."

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Johns Hopkins University

On March 14, 2025, Johns Hopkins University announced that it will eliminate more than 2,000 jobs — 1,975 internationally and 247 in the US. Due to a loss of USD 800 million in grants from USAID, the university's Bloomberg School of Public Health announced these eliminations. This will affect programmes working on diarrheal disease in Bangladesh, HIV prevention in India and Africa, research on elimination of tuberculosis, malaria prevention in Tanzania, and support for pregnant mothers in Nigeria and Afghanistan. 

University of Pittsburgh

Recently, University of Pittsburgh announced a faculty and staff hiring freeze that will remain in place through the end of the current fiscal year and may be extended into the next. Previously, in February, the university announced that it would pause additional PhD admissions. 

University of Notre Dame

University of Notre Dame President Fr Robert Dowd, Provost John McGreevy, and Executive Vice President Shannon Cullinan sent an email to faculty members informing them of a freeze on all staff hiring as well as limitations on indirect spending. It also directed all departments to model a plan for a 5 percent budget reduction should that become necessary. 

Iowa State University

According to a spokesperson for Iowa State University, the university is reviewing offers for graduate student admissions and apprenticeships, and some departments are rescinding offers made to some graduate students who have not yet accepted their offer of admission. There also remain uncertainties about funding for graduate research at Iowa State. 

Brown University

On March 13, 2025, Provost Francis J Doyle III and Executive Vice President Sarah Latham announced that Brown University will be taking measures to reduce spending. These will include a mandatory salary freeze for members of the President's Cabinet and a voluntary freeze for other highly compensated administrators, a temporary staff hiring freeze effective immediately, and freezing of all non-essential travel. 

References: 

1. The Daily Star (March 16, 2025). Harvard, among other top US universities, freezes hiring amid financial uncertainties under Trump
2. MIT Office of the President (March 4, 2025). Update from President Kornbluth on MIT's response to federal actions
3. University of Washington (March 7, 2025). Financial Risk Mitigation Efforts
4. WESA (February 21, 2025). The University of Pittsburgh pauses its Ph.D. admissions process amid research funding uncertainty
5. The Daily Pennsylvanian (February 21, 2025). Penn to reduce graduate admissions, rescind acceptances amid federal research funding cuts
6. The Daily Pennsylvanian (February 21, 2025). Penn freezes hiring, cuts spending in 'proactive' response to federal funding uncertainty
7. NBC News (March 15, 2025). Johns Hopkins University to let more than 2,000 workers go after Trump's USAID cuts
8. Iowa Capital Dispatch (March 7, 2025). Iowa State University rescinds some admission offers for graduate students
9. The Observer (March 7, 2025). Notre Dame implements hiring freeze amid federal funding cuts
10. The Brown Daily Herald (March 13, 2025). Brown institutes staff-wide hiring freeze in response to 'federal government actions'