Top US Universities Slash PhD Admissions in 2026

Which universities are cutting PhD admissions in 2026?

Harvard announced it would slash graduate admissions by 75% in the sciences and 60% in the arts and humanities for each of the next two years. That is the sharpest cut among major research universities reported so far.

Many peers followed. According to Forbes's coverage of PhD program reductions, Yale, Columbia, Brown, the University of Southern California, Boston University, and the University of Pennsylvania all scaled back, rescinded, paused, or stopped new admissions. Large public universities — including the University of Wisconsin, Michigan State University, and the University of Washington — took similar steps.

Here's a snapshot of the announced cuts:

Why are universities cutting PhD programs?

The cuts share a common set of causes. Federal research funding has dropped. The Trump administration proposed deep budget cuts to the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and other agencies. Universities are not waiting to see if Congress restores those funds — they are acting now.

On top of that, a new tax on endowment income is hitting wealthy schools hard. Yale Alumni Magazine reports that Yale faces the highest rate of 8% on its endowment income. Yale's dean of science, Larry Gladney, noted that grant funding for the current year ended up slightly ahead of last year — but added, "We may get to that point quickly; maybe we're a bad news cycle away."

Graduate School dean Lynn Cooley put it plainly: "We're facing budget realities that make it imperative to do that in order to keep supporting our students the way we want to."

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Are cuts in STEM or humanities deeper?

Humanities and social sciences are absorbing larger cuts at most schools. At Yale, the humanities and social sciences face a 13% enrollment reduction versus 5% in STEM. The University of Chicago hit social sciences, arts, and humanities particularly hard.

As we read the sources, the pattern is consistent: STEM programs are somewhat protected because they generate more external grant revenue, while humanities programs depend more on institutional funding that is now under pressure.

George Washington University's cuts offer a concrete example. GWU is admitting no new students in five programs: clinical psychology, anthropology, human paleobiology, political science, and mathematics. GWU Department of Biological Sciences Chair Guillermo Orti said, "If you're cutting PhD packages to recruit students, you're basically cutting the capacity to do research at the university."

Are these cuts permanent?

At Yale, administrators say the reductions are likely permanent. The endowment income tax is not expected to go away, which means the financial pressure driving the cuts will not either.

Yale's cuts will phase in over three years. Each humanities and social sciences PhD program must reach a new, 13%-lower enrollment target by 2028. Some science programs may cut deeper than the 5% baseline if they anticipate larger reductions in federal grants in their specific disciplines.

What does this mean for research output?

Fewer PhD students means less research capacity. Dean Cooley made that direct: "When they read news about a discovery on campus, it's young people who are doing that. It's easy to think of the faculty as the stars of the show, which of course they are, but it's also young people — grad students and postdocs — who are pushing discovery forward."

GWU's Orti echoed the concern: "Graduate student PhD lines are the bread and butter for maintaining a research program at any university."

This matters beyond individual campuses. The US has long led global graduate education, particularly in STEM. That position is now under pressure from multiple directions — not just domestic cuts but active recruitment by other countries. Canada launched a strategy in December to invest nearly $1.7 billion Canadian dollars (about $1.2 billion US) to recruit international researchers, including up to 600 doctoral students and 400 post-doctoral researchers.

Are international students also affected?

Yes. Shifts in US visa and immigration policy are being blamed for a 19% drop in new international graduate student enrollment in the US last year, according to the Global Enrolment Benchmark Survey cited by Forbes. Nearly two-thirds of US universities — 63% — reported declines in graduate student enrollments.

International students have historically been a major source of interest in STEM PhD programs. Their departure compounds the domestic funding problem.

This situation connects to broader questions about how federal AI and research investment shapes long-term US technical capacity. The PhD pipeline feeds AI implementation units and government AI programs that depend on a steady supply of trained researchers.

What happens next at Yale specifically?

Yale's three-year phase-in is the most detailed plan in the sources. Each PhD program in humanities and social sciences will be required to limit admissions to hit a new enrollment target that is 13% lower by 2028. Programs currently above or below their targets will see varying admission adjustments.

Deputy dean Pamela Schirmeister said the school is working with programs on "how we can support your program at a reduced size to maintain your excellence and your intellectual community." Areas under discussion include reducing time to degree and strengthening interdisciplinary work among smaller programs.