The current administration wants long overdue equity in higher ed. Thought democrats were for the poor and middle class. That party has certainly forgotten its roots. Now dominated by big city liberal billionaires like Bloomberg. Elite universities like Harvard spend millions on connected lobbyists to funnel federal funding to them as opposed to a UMass or Kansas, Purdue. State universities don’t have the budgets for expensive lobbyists. It’s like many of their wealthy liberal constituents putting their kids into expensive private schools with private costly guidance coaches vs poorer kid in public schools. The system has been rigged for decades. Good for Trump.

American students don’t want to get PhDs; they just want to make a lot of money.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard recently reported its endowment rose to $57 billion. Do the math if they spend 5% in current budget that’s $2.8 billion for current operations. Most top schools spend annually 4-4.5% of endowment. Distribute federal funds to state universities around the country instead.

If the state University wins the grant competition to do the best quality research for our tax dollars then yes give it to the State University. This is not a giveaway of our tax dollars.

+1. State Universities get federal grant funding all the time, as well. It's not like it all goes to Harvard, and the federal funding cuts are going to hit public universities too.

50% of PhD students in America are foreign born. They get full scholarships to entice them to come. America has not had homegrown talent for a long time. H1B program was started during Cold War to get more scientist to build bombs. Today, 50% of AI research papers are done in China. I think you are all missing the real issue here....

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just means those on the margins won’t have a free ride PhD.

If this country doesn't want to fund high-level science education and research, other countries will compete for it.

Yep.

The current admin wants serfs and not educated people.

Anonymous wrote:Perhaps poor Harvard should make a Patriotic effort to enroll more American students in undergrad and graduate prograns if they have the Harvard hat out seeking federal funding from middle class Americans.

Too late. The so called Patriots voted to send Americans out of the country to compete to get their high-level science educations.

Anonymous wrote:Harvard recently reported its endowment rose to $57 billion. Do the math if they spend 5% in current budget that’s $2.8 billion for current operations. Most top schools spend annually 4-4.5% of endowment. Distribute federal funds to state universities around the country instead.

If the state University wins the grant competition to do the best quality research for our tax dollars then yes give it to the State University. This is not a giveaway of our tax dollars.

Perhaps poor Harvard should make a Patriotic effort to enroll more American students in undergrad and graduate prograns if they have the Harvard hat out seeking federal funding from middle class Americans.

Harvard recently reported its endowment rose to $57 billion. Do the math if they spend 5% in current budget that’s $2.8 billion for current operations. Most top schools spend annually 4-4.5% of endowment. Distribute federal funds to state universities around the country instead.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does this mean to sway your kid away from a PhD path in science/engineering?

If it’s happening at Harvard, does this mean it will happen everywhere?

Yes, the universities are not going to be subsidizing these programs if the government isn’t.

How is subsidy the right word. There's a competition for research grants and the research actually has to produce data and information which then belongs to the funder.

This country no longer wants to pursue high-level science research or enjoy the benefits that come along with funding that. And the science research is a very small overall percentage of our overall Federal budget. A tiny slice. Destroying it does nothing to help our country financially. America last.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just means those on the margins won’t have a free ride PhD.

If this country doesn't want to fund high-level science education and research, other countries will compete for it.

Again, US will be funding the A and B teams, rest of the world will be funding the scrubs.

Oh sure. Sounds like we're really behind science research these days........

The American Association for the Advancement of Science has estimated that if the administration succeeds in cutting the 2026 federal science budget to $154 billion from $198 billion it would represent the smallest amount the federal government has spent on science in this century. The result “would essentially end America’s long-standing role as the world leader in science and innovation,” Toby Smith, senior vice president for government relations and public policy at the Association of American Universities, said in July.

We definitely are. Just take a look at one metric:

https://www.nature.com/nature-index/news/nature-index-research-leaders-western-institutions-lose-top-spots

Anonymous wrote:Does this mean to sway your kid away from a PhD path in science/engineering?

If it’s happening at Harvard, does this mean it will happen everywhere?

Yes, the universities are not going to be subsidizing these programs if the government isn’t.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just an example of why US had lost its long held lead in the sciences

Most of the cuts are in non STEM programs.

No

“The Faculty of Arts and Sciences slashed the number of Ph.D. student admissions slots for the Science division by more than 75 percent and for the Arts & Humanities division by about 60 percent for the next two years”

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just means those on the margins won’t have a free ride PhD.

If this country doesn't want to fund high-level science education and research, other countries will compete for it.

Again, US will be funding the A and B teams, rest of the world will be funding the scrubs.

Oh sure. Sounds like we're really behind science research these days........

The American Association for the Advancement of Science has estimated that if the administration succeeds in cutting the 2026 federal science budget to $154 billion from $198 billion it would represent the smallest amount the federal government has spent on science in this century. The result “would essentially end America’s long-standing role as the world leader in science and innovation,” Toby Smith, senior vice president for government relations and public policy at the Association of American Universities, said in July.

Anonymous wrote:I guess it's not limited to schools like Chicago that are in financial crisis. What's Harvard's excuse? They are literally sitting on billions.
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/10/21/fas-phd-admissions-cuts/
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/10/21/seas-layoffs-student-advisors/

Trump/Vance destroys everything. This didn't happen with Bush/Obama/Biden or even Trump/Pence.

Project2024 wants to kill our universities. We need to say "No" and "Enough".