Chloe Edwards, Photography Editor

During Yale’s Bulldog Days, a three-day annual event for admitted students, many prospective students arrived with not just excitement, but also hesitation.

Amid political turbulence and deepening uncertainty over federal funding for higher education, with the news of recent cuts to peer institutions, some admitted students said their college decisions now hinge not only on programs and prestige but also on principle.

The News talked to 15 admitted students about how the political climate surrounding higher education factors into their decision on where to attend college. While a majority of the students noted concerns about federal funding cuts, they also expressed disappointment with Yale’s inaction in resisting President Donald Trump’s attacks on higher education.

Liam Krol, a prospective student, was attracted to Yale because of its Central and Eastern European studies program with “big figures” like Timothy Snyder, Marci Shore and Jason Stanley. However, he cited that the announcement of their departure last month has left him “very worried” that when he arrives at Yale in the fall, Eastern European history “may not be taught as much anymore.”

“Yale really has my heart,” he said, but added that the most difficult part about his college decision is that he doesn’t know “where the damage will be done and how it will be done” due to federal funding cuts.

While peer institutions like Harvard and Columbia have faced funding freezes by the federal government, Yale remains one of only two Ivy League schools whose funding remains intact.

More troubling, Krol said, is the sense that these changes may be politically motivated.

“Even journalists can’t figure out exactly what’s being cut or why. But it feels ideological. The administration in power right now isn’t very pro-Ukraine, and I’m worried these kinds of studies might just disappear,” Krol said.

Krol’s concerns escalated when he learned that while Harvard and MIT had filed lawsuits against the Trump administration over its efforts to restrict academic autonomy, student visa regulations and tax endowments, Yale had remained publicly silent.

University President Maurie McInnis previously told the News that she is prioritizing behind-the-scenes lobbying over public statements. Still, she issued a statement in February denouncing President Donald Trump’s cuts to funding in the National Institutes of Health and recently signed onto a joint statement of over 200 university presidents protesting the “unprecedented government overreach and political interference” that higher education is facing under Trump. 

Eli Bouganiam, another admitted student, said he has heard from upperclassmen that students should “get as much money out of Yale as possible” while funding still exists.

“There are all these grants — for research, travel, study abroad, startup money for clubs,” Bouganiam said. “I would worry that if federal funding gets cut, would it be limiting student life as we had kind of seen it, or as advertised?”

Others, like Mael Ejiogu, are watching how schools react to Washington’s moves.

“I’m pre-med, so research funding matters to me,” he said. “Because of funding cuts to research, I’m looking towards schools that are actually standing their ground against the Trump administration and what they’re doing, like Harvard and MIT.”

He believes that “Yale’s kind of conceding” and that he is looking at schools that have remained silent “with a side eye.”

Caroline Kramer told the News that she is concerned with the administrative response and the way that universities react and either stand by or don’t stand by their autonomy and their students as institutions.

“If they’re not willing to stand up for what they believe in, then I don’t feel comfortable going to a school like that,” said Ejiogu.

For students like Madisen Finch, who committed to Yale before funding debates reached a boiling point, new fears have clouded what should be an exciting transition. She noted that she is afraid to be “caught in the middle of [her] college experience, and not being able to pay for it.” Finch still believes in Yale, but wants to see more leadership amidst Trump’s actions.

Echoing Finch, Krol also noted how he “felt very disappointed” and wished that Yale “would stand up.”

“You know, it’s beyond just the money. It’s a legacy a school leaves. That’s what attracts students to the school. What does the school stand for?” said Krol.

Peter Ivanov, however, noted that while the “political climate is definitely scary,” he believes Yale is doing “a really good job at hiding under the rug.” He noted that while Yale is “not on the front lines fighting for us,” they are at least not fighting like Harvard, putting their students at risk.

“They’re kind of keeping us safe, which is nice,” Ivanov said. 

Currently undecided, Wesley Bartlett noted that he is leaning toward a school like Princeton that has taken decisive action over Yale, from whom he has not heard a commitment to the protection of financial aid expressed directly.

Even those leaning toward Yale, like Luca Weisman, say federal politics are shaping their thinking.

“I’m choosing between Yale and Columbia, and I know that Columbia has felt the effects of federal funding cuts much more than Yale has,” Weisman told the News. “I think that it makes it easy to choose Yale, knowing how much they care about their undergrads.”

Christopher Burke, who has yet to decide, said he plans to wait until the last minute, just in case there is another funding cut “that affects things that hasn’t come out yet.”

While Salihah Cann-Polentz cited federal funding as a factor in her college decision-making, she doesn’t believe the risk of federal funding being cut to programs like research is something that would dissuade her from attending a university. “It’s more so their stance and how they’re responding,” said Cann-Polentz.

National College Decision Day, the deadline to commit to most American universities, is May 1.