Dear Lori,
Before we dive into the news, in honor of Valentine’s Day, let me state at the jump that this issue is part love letter to all the Connecting Our World readers like you. It gives me great satisfaction to provide this service to a community of folks who are, every day—in spirit, words, and deeds—doing their part to make the world a more peaceful and interconnected place, one student at a time. Thank you.
Switching gears, we have recently learned that recipients of State Department grant funding have been informed of a 15-day temporary pause on all disbursements. Our understanding is that the pause is effective as of February 12, 2025, and applies to all current and future grant payments scheduled during this period.
This sweeping pause affects time-tested and essential international education and exchange programs including the Fulbright Program, the Gilman Scholarship program, the IDEAS program, and the Critical Language Scholarship Program.
NAFSA is working closely with our partners including the Alliance for International Exchange, the Forum on Education Abroad, and the U.S. for Success Coalition to learn more about the impetus for this pause and determine the appropriate advocacy response.
In the meantime, we are turning to members of the field to help us determine the immediate and potential impact of this funding interruption and other recent executive actions.
Please complete this brief questionnaire to share information and examples as to how this funding pause and other executive orders (more on those below) related to DEI, extreme vetting of international students and scholars, NIH research funding, etc. are affecting your programs, students, classrooms, and communities.
As for other executive actions and updates:
On February 12, President Trump released an executive order that contains sweeping reforms to the U.S. foreign service, meant to align U.S. foreign relations with the administration’s “America First Policy Directive and drastically reduce its workforce.” This follows severe measures to dismantle USAID and inconsistent access to funds for some federally funded programs. A recent episode of The Daily by the New York Times dives into the impact this would have on U.S. soft power.
On February 11, the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs issued an update that states issued passports bearing the Gender X marker remain valid until expiration. Recall that a January 20 executive order declared that the United States will no longer issue U.S. passports bearing the X marker.
On February 7, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced it is drastically cutting its funding for “indirect costs” related to research. The maximum amount of an NIH grant that can be used for administrative overhead is now capped at 15 percent, representing a loss of $4 billion in funds. NIH is the largest funder of university research and this policy change represents a real threat to indirect line items such as buildings, utilities, building maintenance, and some administrative costs. An analysis by James Murphy of Education Reform Now on the impact of a NIH 15% indirect cost rate shows that the five largest research universities alone might be facing cuts of more than $630 million.
In response, a coalition of 22 attorneys general sued NIH and the Department of Health and Human Services, accusing them of posing an “immediate threat to the nation’s research infrastructure.”
A U.S. district judge issued a temporary restraining order that keeps the administration from enforcing the cuts until at least February 21, when the parties will meet in-person for oral arguments. American Council on Education (ACE), Association of American Universities (AAU), and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) announced they have joined the lawsuit.
Phew. This is a lot. But there are things we can do together to show our strength and our impact!
WHAT YOU CAN DO
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Complete NAFSA’s online questionnaire to share as much as you can about the immediate and potential impacts of the pause on all State Department funding and other recent executive actions. You may request that your responses be kept confidential and anonymous.
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Send a message to your members of Congress on the value of international students to your state and/or congressional district. A sample message has been prepared for you to customize and send.
- Read an interview with NAFSA’s Jill Allen Murray about
the early actions of the current Trump administration and NAFSA’s approach to the new policy landscape in the February issue of International Educator.
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For a dose of inspiration, meet the 2025 Simon Award recipients! These eight institutions epitomize excellence and innovation in campus internationalization.
Best,
Erica
Erica Stewart
Senior Director, Advocacy & Strategic Communications
NAFSA: Association of International Educators
