I am a professor of physics here at the University. I want to tell you about the devastating impact on students that the Trump administration is causing. The damage is real and has real consequences — but there is something that you can do about it.

We recently had an undergraduate meeting of seniors majoring in physics. It was “unbelievably depressing,” according to a student in attendance.

Smart and dedicated students did not know what to do as schools across the country are paring back the number of admits for graduate school because of the decreased funding from the government — from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, NASA and virtually all science departments.

The top schools, largely private institutions, where many of our students were hoping to attend, have decreased their admits in physics by 25%, according to Matthias Grosse Perdekamp, physics department head. Public schools have decreased a more modest amount of 7%.

Although these are the numbers for physics, other areas of science are under similar strain. For many of these physics students, the difficulties reminded them when they started learning — four years ago they were largely locked out of in-person classes because of COVID-19.

The situation here at Illinois Physics is more complex when it comes to getting into graduate school. 

“The physics department did not reduce the admission numbers from previously planned numbers,” Perdekamp said in an email. He worries that people “obey in advance in a climate of fear and uncertainty towards the future of science funding.” 

The size of the entering class at Illinois Physics is actually about 50% higher than usual, possibly because the applicants were turned away from the many schools that were cutting back.

Unfortunately, the threats by the Trump administration — and a Congress which apparently is ceding to his wishes — are very real.

In the recently released 2026 budget proposal, “President Donald Trump today asked Congress to make massive and unprecedented cuts to the 2026 budgets of major federal science agencies,” according to Science Magazine. NSF is down by 50%; NIH by 37%; NASA’s science budget by over 50%. 

Already, this year, there is a long list of NSF and NIH grants that have been nixed. The grants include not only those which have Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in their title, but COVID-19 and HIV as well. Harvard, Cornell, Columbia, and Northwestern have been specifically targeted to the tune of several billion dollars withheld. NSF and NIH staff has been reduced by more than 10%, which means that when a professor writes to them — about a grant which was supposed to be funded, yet the next installment is several months late — the professor doesn’t get a response.

All of these grants have been rigorously evaluated by professors and others as being worthwhile, and therefore, as mandated by Congress, to be funded. The Department of Energy and the NSF recently told the University in a federal update to accept funds with dramatically reduced money for “overhead” — used to pay for things like heating buildings.

The DOE said to sign it or lose the funding. Fortunately, this was prevented for the DOE — for now — by a judge, and a lawsuit is ongoing regarding the NSF.

There is something that you, the students at the University, can do. This applies not only to those wanting to pursue physics, but to anyone in any field of science or engineering. In fact, it applies to all students because the attacks on the University are not really about science, per se — they are an attack on the fundamental rights of a university to self-govern.

Talk to your relatives and parents about what is happening to your University and to universities throughout the country. Write a letter to the editor of your hometown newspapers — especially if you happen to live in a so-called “red state.”

Parents simply do not know. FOX doesn’t cover these stories. This came as a shock to one student with a family that otherwise supported Trump. They ended up writing a letter to the White House.

Also, call your Congressmen — especially Republicans who kowtow to Trump. They are still responsive to their constituency. For example, they had initially agreed to cut social security services but backed off when enough people complained. A simple phone call expressing your unhappiness can do it.

It’s your turn. Your entrance to further studies may depend on it.

Paul is a professor in Engineering.

[email protected]

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