How Trump’s Policies Are Hurting Graduate Schools and Universities

By Liam Knox Graphics by Adrienne Tong July 22, 2026 Graduate schools have been a financial cornerstone of the US higher education system for decades. Now, at universities across the country, major cracks are showing in that foundation. Cornell University enrolled 209 fewer new grad students last year, with declines across nearly all of its schools. Michigan State University paused admissions to most of its advanced programs in the humanities for a year to assess them for “long-term sustainability.” Massachusetts Institute of Technology has been shaken by a 20% drop in the federally funded research that made its graduate programs into an innovation powerhouse. The common denominator is President Donald Trump, whose campaign to reshape academia has sent the $100 billion grad school market i