The U.S. Fulbright program, an academic exchange opportunity which provides grants for students and scholars to study, do research and teach abroad, has had their federal budget frozen since February 12, according to the National Association of Foreign Student Advisers (NAFSA).
The program, funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, named USC a top producer of students and scholars in the 2024-2025 Fulbright cycle.
However, recent federal actions have left the future of the program unknown.
Initially, the U.S. Department of State put a “15-Day Pause on Grant Disbursements in the Payment Management System,” according to the NAFSA, and paused all current and future grant payments that are scheduled during this period.
Twenty-four USC students and recent alumni accepted Fulbright U.S. Student Program grants, while three faculty members and two graduate students accepted Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program grants, according to the university.
Katie Googe is a recent USC Dornsife PhD candidate graduate and current Czech Republic Postdoctoral Fulbright Fellow. Googe said she doesn’t see the brunt of the federal funding freeze because the Czech Republic funds more of her program than the United States with their binational commissions.
Googe said she’s more concerned with the 2025-2026 grantees who just received their acceptance.
“It’s a very difficult time to find out about this freeze. I turned down other jobs to come here so if someone else has to do the same, that could put them in a very precarious position,” Googe said.
Other lower-income countries that aren’t able to fund programs for themselves run their programs out of the U.S. Embassy. Although their exact future is unknown, these countries will most likely experience the largest impact.
“It’s devastating, being here and talking to people who went on Fulbright exchanges from the Czech Republic to the United States in the 90s shortly after communism fell,” Googe said. “You learn the importance of being able to have that international cooperation– of being able to give people from different countries access to research and access to resources and access to sharing experiences.”
Googe said she’s grateful the Executive Director at Fulbright Commission in the Czech Republic, Hana Ripkova, has kept the program updated on how the funding cuts will impact their program.
“Like many people right now, she is very focused on taking care of the people she has current responsibility for. That means making sure that those of us who are here are as comfortable and stable and able to continue to do our research without fear,” Googe said.
Googe is one of the lucky ones. Kira Liljegren, a recent USC International Relations graduate and currently a Fulbright English teaching assistant, has been left in the dark. She hasn’t heard anything from Fulbright, but gets all of her information from her group chat with other scholars.
“I haven’t heard anything directly from the organization, but our funding for this program, the way that it works, it’s already been dispersed, so we should be covered for this year,” Liljegren said.
Liljegren will be able to complete the rest of her program for the year, but she explained that this is on a country-by-country basis. She gets paid by the Fulbright Commission in Berlin, but others get paid by the Institute of International Education.
“From what I’m hearing from people are either like they’re getting partial stipends for the month or at the end, because their funding is kind of in limbo,” Liljergren said. “They don’t really know what’s going to happen,” Liljegren said.
Nick Cull, a professor of Public Diplomacy at USC Annenberg and Fulbright mentor, explained how the program is able to continue running due to other countries paying for part of it.
“A lot of Fulbright’s are not run with American funds,” Cull said. “In fact, you take Canada and the entirety of the U.S., Fulbright is paid for by Canada as a gift to the United States. Fifty percent of the Japan Fulbright is paid by Japan. Fifty percent of the German Fulbright is paid by Germany.”
Additionally, Liljegren said she has heard of programs that have been completely disbanded already from English teaching assistants.
“I literally can’t imagine, if it were one year later for me, getting going through the whole year-long application process that is a Fulbright application,” Liljegren said. “Finally, you know, getting notification that you’re a finalist, that you got the award, and then not being able to do it, it’s absolutely heartbreaking.”
Since many are left in the dark, Liljegren still has friends who are applying for a second year of Fulbright.
“I think right now, the strategy seems to be just kind of proceed as normal, and then obviously, if something changes, I would presume that they would notify us,” Liljegren said.
Cull emphasizes how important the Fulbright program is for education.
“If it weren’t for the possibility of Fulbright paying for American professors to go overseas who would teach Americans about the rest of the world?,” he said. “The reason that your area studies professors know about South America or the Middle East is because they’ve not only had one Fulbright, but often across a career, they could have had three or four Fulbrights.”
In a statement from the university, they said, “The university is providing financial support as needed to affected Fulbright scholars at USC while we await the end of the funding freeze.”
“It was through Fulbright that you could have really well informed American studies departments in post-war Europe, so that we had mutual knowledge and weren’t learning everything from Hollywood and popular American novels,” Cull said.
Liljegren talked about how being open about being queer has helped her students.
“I’ve had teachers tell me that there are specific kids who maybe haven’t had a lot of confidence, who do identify as LGBT,” Liljegren said. “They kind of see me as a role model, and like this program impacts so many people’s lives in such a positive way.”
“It is a tragedy to see this thing being attacked as if it was of no value,” Cull said. “Just to score political points or throw some very wealthy people tax breaks.”