What’s New

The Trump administration has used an arcane administrative process to pull funding from two dozen academic- and cultural-exchange programs run by the U.S. Department of State, effectively killing them.

The cuts, made by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), were to already-appropriated congressional funds for the current fiscal year.

While the list of terminated programs does not include high-profile State Department exchanges, such as the flagship Fulbright Program, the action has raised concerns that the administration could use the same approach to cancel other global-education programs.

The cuts are an “existential threat” to the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Exchange “as a whole,” said Mark Overmann, executive director at the Alliance for International Exchange.

“If OMB is allowed to cut these congressionally appropriated FY25 awards, it will give them license to do it again and again, opening the door to effectively eliminate international-exchange programs.”

The Details

At least 22 programs are on the list to be “removed from FY25 funding.” Among them are the Global Undergraduate Exchange Program; the IDEAS Program, which gives awards to colleges to expand and diversify study-abroad options; and the J. Christopher Stevens Virtual Exchange Initiative to connect American, Middle Eastern, and North African students online.

In all, the cuts could total $100 million.

Overmann’s organization, which includes study-abroad providers and groups that run international exchanges, first learned that funding for some 50 exchange programs had been held up by an “irregular” budget-office review.

Grants for exchange programs, including new awards and renewals, are sent to congressional committees with oversight for appropriations and foreign affairs in a process known as congressional notification. Lawmakers can ask questions, but typically the notifications are “a pro forma, no-drama part of the grantmaking process,” Overmann said. The process happens over the spring and summer so that funds can be awarded before the end of the fiscal year on September 30.

But the OMB, which historically has not been involved in the minutiae of exchange-program grantmaking, delayed the sending of congressional notifications. Without that step, the State Department is unable to make awards and spend congressionally authorized funds, meaning that the programs will not be able to operate.

International-education groups had been working with State Department officials to try to get the notifications released and the grant process restarted. They learned on Wednesday that about half the programs had been defunded.

An internal State Department communication said the programs were “lower funding priorities in the current fiscal environment, so they are being removed from FY25 funding.” The department would work to “pull these down with the least possible disruption,” the memo said.

The State Department did not respond to requests for comment Thursday.

The Backdrop

In February, the State Department quietly froze all grant payments for exchanges and global-education programs for a 15-day review.

The suspension, which stretched into a month, affected programs that serve 12,500 American students, youth, and professionals who were abroad or slated to go overseas soon.

Funding was eventually largely restarted, but the Trump administration’s budget for the 2026 fiscal year proposed deep cuts for the State Department as a whole and reduced funding for international exchanges by 93 percent.

Last month, a U.S. House appropriations subcommittee passed a spending bill with more modest cuts. It approved $700 million for exchange programs as compared to President’s Trump’s $50-million request.

The Republican-controlled committee also included language requiring the OMB to allocate funds to the State Department within 60 days of the bill’s passage, an apparent response to the administration’s hold on awards in agencies across the government.

Both the House and Senate must still approve final appropriations measures.

The Stakes

The cancellation of current funding is likely to result in furloughs, layoffs, and even the closure of some international-exchange groups. Those planning to participate in the programs will not be able to go overseas.

Overmann said he is concerned the cuts will set a disturbing precedent. If the budget office is able to “inappropriately, and possibly illegally, stop congressionally approved funds from being spent,” other programs — including Fulbright and the Gilman Scholarship, for first-generation and low-income students to study abroad — could also be the target for cuts. That could essentially allow the administration to veto spending with which it disagrees.

Already this year, administration officials unilaterally rejected Fulbright grants to American and foreign scholars late in the application process and apparently on ideological grounds. Projects involving gender, race, and climate change were among those disapproved after a review of their compliance with presidential orders.

The Alliance for International Exchange has started a campaign to try to save the programs, urging educators to contact their members of Congress.

https://www.chronicle.com/article/white-house-uses-back-door-to-axe-approved-funds-for-exchange-programs