Tim Tai

When Maya Albold ’24 opened her inbox one morning in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, where she is currently serving as a Fulbright Mongolia English Teaching Assistant, she was met with unsettling news.

On Feb. 13, the Institute of International Education, which oversees the Fulbright Program, alerted scholars about funding delays from the U.S. State Department. The message notified grant recipients of a 15-day funding freeze on all disbursements of current and future payments, but the freeze has not been lifted since. While IIE emphasized that any funding pauses are simply “temporary,” the uncertainty has left scholars with more questions than answers.

“It’s a confusing time, which I’m sure it is for everyone. I feel a lot of sympathy for the research scholars and for the fellows, and also foreigners that are on a grant to the U.S., because they’ve been impacted the most,” said Albold. “From what I’ve come to understand, it’s because their projects tend to span a broader range of topics, so they’ve been sort of victim to some of the wholesale attacks on things that the administration might not agree with.”

For Albold, whose grant runs through May, the financial concerns are less pressing. If funding were to be cut, she believes the school she teaches at would likely continue paying for her housing. However, she acknowledged that scholars in different programs and locations may not be as fortunate. 

Will Salaverry ’24, an Open Research Fulbright recipient for Guatemala, received an extension on this Fulbright scholarship, deferring it a year, to pursue the Alaska Fellows Program, and was set to start his Fulbright year in June. 

While in Sitka, Alaska, planning his research, he received an email from Fulbright instructing him to stop making any plans or booking travel. The announcement said that the program would follow up within a month with further information, but it left him in limbo, unsure whether his long-awaited plans would move forward as scheduled.

Salaverry, who had planned to research climate resilience in the Caribbean coastal city of Livingston, Guatemala, described the uncertainty as disheartening but not entirely surprising.

“On Fulbrighter, the social media app for grantees, people are talking about going to Congress, protesting. There’s hope, but I think some people are making the mistake of assuming the program will inevitably be restored,” Salaverry said.

Some, like Patrik Haverinen ’25, a Fulbright Finland Foundation grantee studying at Yale, have thus far been unaffected.

Haverinen expressed his gratitude to the Fulbright Finland Foundation for supporting his studies at Yale but admitted that he is deeply saddened about the recent news of funding freezes and uncertainty affecting Fulbright scholars.

“It’s a remarkable program that has allowed so many to go abroad, exchange ideas, and understand the world better upon their return,” said Haverinen. “We definitely need more of that today, not less.”

Chase Daneker ’24, who received the Fulbright-Garcia Robles Grant and is participating in the Fulbright Binational Business Program in Mexico, was also told that his grant was intact.

Daneker explained that Fulbright recipients receive their funding in four installments over the course of the year, with his last payment being in December and the next one expected at the end of March. Daneker said that COMEXUS, the commission that oversees Fulbright programs in Mexico, has reassured scholars that their next payment is still expected to go through as planned – though many, he added, are anxiously hoping the situation doesn’t shift.

Emma Rose, director of the Office of Fellowship Programs, said she is unsure about what the funding freeze means for the 97 Fulbright semi-finalists from Yale selected this cycle. 

“We, and the organizations that run these programs on behalf of the State Department, are hopeful that more information will become available soon and that students will continue benefiting from these intercultural exchanges,” she said.

She added that students should continue to apply for State Department-funded programs and that Yale will continue to support students through the application processes.

For many Yalies, Fulbright has been a stepping stone into public service, including government careers. But Albold fears the program’s instability may deter future applicants.

Abold told the News that she has been in contact with Fulbright alumni who have gone on to pursue government jobs, but that many have been laid off because of “funding issues.” She worries that cuts to programs like Fulbright will deter students from pursuing future careers in public service.

Daneker also told the News that the uncertainty has made him more concerned about his medium and long-term career plans.

“Fulbright advertises itself as a stepping stone into government or government-adjacent jobs. Many of those career paths are in flux right now, particularly in International Relations and International Development,” Daneker said.

The fate of the Critical Language Studies, or CLS, program, which takes place during the summer, is also unclear. Nine finalists and 14 shortlisted alternates have been selected from Yale this year. 

Cindy Liu ’26, who participated in the CLS program in Japan last summer and currently serves as an alumni ambassador, said the funding freeze likely caused the cancellation of their in-person conference.

She added that while the funding freeze worries her, she hopes to be able to apply to other federal programs like Fulbright and the Boren Award to gain immersion “despite insufficient personal financial means.”

“I hope that students who rely on these programs like I do are able to make their dreams come true and pursue an international career, despite current uncertainty,” she said.

Salaverry believes that in the absence of Fulbright and other established programs, students at Yale and other universities will have to “get creative.” 

“It’s like those pathways that have been a little more set, you know, those are getting blown up,” said Salaverry. “I think there are going to be creative openings and opportunities in the absence of things that we may have counted on, right? In the absence of Fulbright.”

Yale was recognized as a Fulbright Student Top Producing Institution for the 2024-25 program year.

Correction, March 24: The article has been updated to reflect the correct number of Fulbright semi-finalists this cycle.