Universities across the U.S. have announced hiring freezes, citing new financial uncertainty as the Trump administration threatens a range of cuts to federal contracts and research grants.

In February, the administration announced deep cuts to National Institutes of Health grants for research institutions, a shift that could reduce the money going to some universities by over $100 million. Some schools already have shelved projects because of the cuts, which have been delayed temporarily by a court challenge.

Recently, President Donald Trump has shown appetite for targeting colleges’ funding more directly. His administration has vowed to take federal money from colleges that defy his agenda on issues including diversity, equity and inclusion programs, transgender athletes’ participation in women’s sports, and student protests that he deems “illegal.”

On March 7, the administration on Friday pulled $400 million from Columbia University over what it described as the Ivy League school’s failure to squelch antisemitism on campus. The Education Department followed up with a letter Monday warning 60 colleges they could lose federal money if they fail to make campuses safe for Jewish students.

Higher education has been a steady job generator since the pandemic, with private colleges and universities adding 35,000 jobs nationwide last year. Hiring freezes and cuts at universities could contribute to slower job growth in the months ahead, advocates for workers say.

Private and public colleges have been announcing freezes

Over the last two weeks, more than a dozen institutions have announced limits on hiring for faculty and staff positions and other measures to tighten purse strings.

Hiring freezes have been announced at schools including Harvard; the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Notre Dame; the University of Pennsylvania; the University of Pittsburgh; Emory University; the University of Vermont; North Carolina State University; the University of Washington; and the University of California, San Diego.

In a statement, Harvard leaders said the decision was “meant to preserve our financial flexibility until we better understand how changes in federal policy will take shape and can assess the scale of their impact.”

The University of Washington’s provost, Tricia Serio, said in a blog post she recognized how the uncertainty of the moment could “prompt stress, worry and anxiety.”

“By using this time to proactively save our resources and thoughtfully plan, we will be better prepared to manage any future funding cuts to protect our mission for the public good,” she wrote.

Several universities said they also are looking for other ways to reduce expenses, including Emory, where President Gregory Fenves said it is necessary to “take prudent measures to prepare for what may be a significant disruption to our finances.”

Universities see risks for federal funding on several fronts

Colleges had been bracing for head winds under the new administration, including the possibility of a big hike in the tax on university endowments. But the new administration has taken several steps that have heightened uncertainty.

In addition to the reductions ordered to NIH grants, money for research and projects has been held up by delays in approval processes and cuts to programs linked to DEI.

After a dustup between Trump and Maine’s governor over transgender athletes, the U.S. Department of Agriculture suspended funding for research at the University of Maine. The funding was restored this week, officials said.

The $400 million hit to Columbia in particular shook institutions of higher education.

The withdrawal of federal money is not the way to fight hate, said Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council of Education. The cancelation, he said, will “eviscerate academic and research activities” at Columbia.

“But we also are deeply concerned that unless the administration reverses course, it will move on to wrongly target research at other institutions, wreaking further chaos, confusion, and negative consequences,” Mitchell said.

On Thursday, U.S. officials said a federal task force to combat antisemitism had notified leaders in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Boston that it wants to meet and discuss incidents where colleges in their cities may have failed to protect Jewish students from discrimination. ___

Associated Press writer Chris Rugaber in Washington contributed to this report.

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The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Claire Rush, The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Internal Revenue Service’s acting chief counsel, William Paul, has been removed from his role at the agency and replaced by Andrew De Mello, an attorney in the chief counsel’s office who is deemed supportive of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, according to two people familiar with the plans who were not authorized to speak publicly.

The people said Paul was demoted from his position because he clashed with the DOGE’s alleged push to share tax information with multiple agencies. The news also comes as the IRS plans to institute massive cuts to its workforce.

The IRS is drafting plans to cut its workforce by as much as half through a mix of layoffs, attrition and incentivized buyouts as part of the President Donald Trump’s efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce. The administration is closing agencies, laying off nearly all probationary employees who have not yet gained civil service protection and offering buyouts to almost all federal employees through a “deferred resignation program” to quickly reduce the government workforce.

Already, roughly 7,000 probationary IRS employees with roughly one year or less of service were laid off from the organization in February.

Paul was named acting chief counsel to the IRS in January, replacing Marjorie A. Rollinson, and has served in various roles at the IRS since the late 1980’s.

Paul is not the first government official to be demoted after voicing concern about access to sensitive systems and taxpayer data.

Government officials across the Treasury Department, the Social Security Administration and other agencies have seen a wave of retirements, resignations and demotions for voicing concern about DOGE access to sensitive systems and taxpayer data.

After 30 years of service, Michelle King, the SSA’s acting commissioner, stepped down from her role in February after refusing to provide DOGE access Social Security recipient information, according to two people familiar with the official’s departure who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

“The series of IRS officials who have put the law above their personal job security join a line of public servants, stretching back to Treasury and IRS leaders during the Nixon era, who have resisted unlawful attempts by elected officials to weaponize taxpayer data and systems,” Chye-Ching Huang, executive director of the Tax Law Center at New York University School of Law, said in a statement.

Fatima Hussein, The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A day before a shutdown deadline, Senate Democrats are mounting a last-ditch protest over a Republican-led government funding bill that already passed the House but failed to slap any limits on President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk’s efforts to gut federal operations.

Senate Democrats are under intense pressure to do whatever they can to stop the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, which is taking a wrecking ball to long-established government agencies by purging thousands of federal workers from jobs.

Democrats are pushing a stopgap 30-day funding bill as an alternative. But its prospects are dim in the Congress controlled by Republicans. And it’s unlikely the Democrats would allow a government shutdown, worried about the further chaos they say Trump and Musk could cause.

As the Senate opened Thursday, with one day to go before Friday’s midnight deadline, the Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune said: “It’s time to fish or cut bait.”

Debates over funding the federal government routinely erupt in deadline moments but this year it’s showing the political leverage of Republicans, newly in majority control of the White House and Congress, and the shortcomings of Democrats who are finding themselves unable to stop the Trump administration’s march across federal operations.

In a rare turn of events, House Republicans stuck together to pass their bill, many conservatives cheering the DOGE cuts, leaving Democrats sidelined as they stood opposed. They House then left town, sending it to the Senate for final action.

Options for Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer are limited, especially as the party is wary of fully withholding their votes and being blamed for a full shutdown of services.

Schumer announced that Democrats were unified in pressing for a 30-day stopgap measure as an alternative to the House passed bill, which would instead fund operations through the end of the budget year in September.

With his party united, Schumer said the Republicans, who hold a 53-47 majority, lack the support needed to reach the 60-vote threshold, which is required to overcome a filibuster.

But Senate Republicans have shown little interest in Schumer’s offer.

What is more likely is that senators will have a chance to vote on the Democrats’ stopgap measure, but if it fails as expected, the Senate would then turn to the broader bill for passage, hours before Friday’s midnight deadline.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent sought to shift attention from Trump’s tariff tit-for-tat tariff war to a looming federal government shutdown.

“I can tell you what’s not good for the economy is this government shutdown,” Bessent said outside the White House. “I don’t know what Democrats are thinking here. They’re going to own it.”

But Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, has called Trump and Musk “two billionaires to don’t know the first thing” about what American families need.

In an highly unusual turn, the House package also required the District of Columbia, which already approved its own balanced budget, to revert back to 2024 levels, drawing outcry from the mayor and city leaders who are pushing the Congress to revert course. They warn of steep reductions to city services.

“Both choices that we are being offered are full of despair,” said Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo.

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Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani and Stephen Groves contributed to this report.

Lisa Mascaro, The Associated Press