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Since doctoral and master’s with research programmes are fully-funded and heavily dependent on federal funding, students, especially Indians, preparing for these courses will be the most affected
Trump federal funding freeze will impact Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Cornell, Northwest, among other universities, which have their own endowments to manage research activities. (Image/AFP)
The US State Department’s announcement to freeze federal funding on scholarships will largely impact Indian students planning to pursue doctoral programmes as well as Master’s with Research, said study abroad consultants, adding that for most students it’s a “wait and watch” situation.
However, if the proposed rule gets implemented, the impact will be seen from 2026-27 since offers for this year have already been secured.
The Trump administration last week proposed to temporarily freeze federal funding for various scholarships to top private universities and colleges asking them to comply with certain rules, pending which the funds to pursue research shall remain suspended.
‘PhD, Master’s With Research To Be Most Impacted’
According to Pratibha Jain of Eduabroad Consulting, Fulbright and PhD scholarships will be most affected. “Since doctoral and Master’s with Research programmes are fully-funded and heavily dependent on funding, these students will be the most affected if this proposed freeze gets implemented. Indian students pursuing these courses cannot survive without funding,” she said.
However, she said, the impact won’t be immediate and currently may affect only 10%—20% of students who are already there and maybe those who are set to go this year.
Also, even next year, it will impact only those who depend on scholarships to get admission into US universities, which includes a lot of working professionals as well.
This is mainly because most students who had to go to the US in 2025 have already secured the offers. The application cycle starts in July, and by December most students have their offers in hand. This is the time for visa applications, she said.
“Everyone is waiting it out at the moment. If it does happen, Indian students have options to go to European countries or others like Australia, Germany, Netherlands and Britain, which may not be at par but are good universities that offer scholarships of around 50% of the total fee,” she said.
On an average, the tuition fee along with accommodation charges for an Indian student in the US comes to Rs 40-50 lakh a year.
The 2024 Open Doors Report, a study by the Institute of International Education, shows that India was the top country of origin for international students in the US during the 2023-2024 academic year. Specifically, 331,602 Indian students were enrolled in US colleges and universities.
However, the report showed that there have been visa issuance concerns. “While the number of Indian students in the US increased, there have been concerns raised about a decrease in F-1 student visa issuances, with some reports indicating a 38% drop in visas granted to Indian nationals in the first nine months of 2024, as compared to the same period in 2023.
‘Wait-n-Watch Situation’
Education Counsellor Viral Doshi said the impact, especially on undergraduate courses, will not be immediate.
Those who will take the hit are mainly those preparing for research, engineering and science programmes. “Even colleges are still grappling with this decision. They will manage temporarily till things become clearer over the next 15 days or a month,” said Doshi.
In addition, Doshi said the announcement to temporarily freeze funding concerns only some of the elite private universities including — Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Cornell, Northwest, among others, which have their own huge endowments to manage and sustain research activities for a while.
“The US administration has not targeted any of the state universities. It is only the top private universities and colleges that have been asked to comply with certain rules. Those planning to go next year must just wait and watch it out before making a move,” he said.
Meanwhile, students who are already there may be impacted partially, and universities will make some stop-gap arrangement for them. Those planning to fly this August-September may have to face some challenges, he added.
Forum Sanjanwala, a Mumbai-based B. Tech student, who is almost set to go to the US to pursue post-graduation (PG) this year, said she has already received offers from two universities, which she’s considering while she has applied for a scholarship, she is yet to know the status of her application.
“I have applied for a scholarship, but I’m yet to hear from the universities on the same. However, I won’t wait for the scholarship and even if it doesn’t come, I’d still go. There is a major difference between pursuing PG back in India and in the US since there is a lot of experiential learning in case of the latter while Indian colleges focus more on scores and theoretical learning,” she said.
