Funding Freeze on Fulbright Scholarships Leaves Students in Travel Limbo

One English teaching assistant in Central Asia on a Fulbright scholarship told Skift they haven’t received any payments since December. 

Another Fulbright recipient, conducting environmental research in North Africa, said they’ve received grant installments on time but now worry the funding could be cut because of the subject matter. 

“That's just another component that has me thinking about whether or not, if it comes down to granular reviews of programs and spending, etc., if mine would be one that would be on the chopping block,” the researcher said.   

Carter Popkin, an English teaching assistant in Cambodia, said he expects to receive his next grant installment in April but so far hasn’t received any information on how the funding freeze could impact his program. 

“I'm very aware of what's happening, and so we're all kind of sitting here being very, very conservative with our spending,” Popkin said. 

Emily Balog, an English teaching assistant in Latvia, said late Wednesday that she heard from the Institute of International Education, one of the organizations that helps disburse Fulbright funds, that the latest installment would be released.

That followed nearly two weeks of uncertainty: Balog said she was due to receive $3,300 on March 1, but got only $275. IIE had told her and others in her cohort that it was only authorized to send a week’s worth of the stipend. 

“It means the world to me that I'm still able to continue working with these communities and helping support my students,” Balog said. “But I just find it really disappointing the lack of transparency and how convoluted and complicated this entire process is.” 

The confusion stems from the U.S. State Department’s suspension of grant funding for study abroad programs like the Fulbright and Gilman scholarships. 

The suspension was supposed to last only 15 days and end February 27. 

A Mixed Experience

Skift spoke with several students currently in the Fulbright program and found that the funding freeze has affected certain students and certain regions more than others. Some students requested to remain anonymous out of concerns for future employment prospects or funding cuts to their research. 

“I do kind of fear and worry that I might just get an email and it might all come to an end,” the environmental researcher said. 

All expressed frustration at the uncertainty. 

The State Department has not responded to Skift’s multiple requests for comment. 

The English teaching assistant in Central Asia said the embassy in their host country told their cohort that they cannot work and as part of the Fulbright scholarship, they are also contractually prohibited from seeking other work in the host country. 

“The biggest thing so far, other than kind of slowly, gently losing our minds, has just been this feeling of abandonment,” they said. 

Matthew Skolar, an English teaching assistant in Andorra, said he received his grant installments on time because the funds were already paid out to the government there. However, he said he was worried about future grant recipients. 

“It's just creating mass confusion, honestly, because people don't know whether or not they're getting paid,” Skolar told Skift on Monday. “You know, I didn't know if I was getting paid until just an hour ago, because I just confirmed it.”

DOGE Makes Its Mark

The freeze on programs like the Fulbright scholarship is part of the Trump administration’s effort to slash government spending and reshape the federal government. Through the Department of Government Efficiency, which is helmed by Elon Musk, the Trump administration has already paused funding for research, foreign aid and cut much of the U.S. Agency for International Development. 

The funding freeze on study abroad grants primarily affected the NGOs that help run these programs and disburse the grants. 

Melissa Torres, the president and CEO of Forum for Education Abroad, said she was concerned that the funding pause was leaving some students stranded abroad.

“We're actually stranding Americans abroad who may or may not be able to pay for plane tickets home,” she said. “So right now these students are being told to wait and see what happens. But we've read reports of students not having enough money to purchase food, not having enough money to pay rent.”

Torres said that DOGE’s website shows some of the funding for these NGOs had been released, but it was just a fraction of the amount that was owed to these organizations. 

She said if the freeze isn’t lifted soon, then it could become more difficult in the long-term for the NGOs who disburse the funds for these scholarships. She warned that the freeze could also affect current applicants to the Fulbright and Gilman scholarships, because it’s unclear if some of those grants will be processed. 

William Gertz, the chairman of the American Institute for Foreign Study, said he believed the government had a duty to the student studying abroad on these scholarships. 

“The issue here is fairness and legality,” he said. “It's paying for government obligations that have been appropriated by Congress and now are frozen.”

He said the pause could also have a ripple effect on the U.S. travel industry. 

“If countries stop promoting international exchange, then we're going to have a smaller travel sector and a small travel sector is not good,” Gertz said. “We want a larger travel sector, we want opportunities for all.”

Additional reporting by Christine Mao.