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The University of Michigan runs on an enormous amount of federal money. In 2024, $1.17 billion<\/a> of the University\u2019s $2 billion<\/a> research expenditure came through federal grants, $762 million of it from National Institutes of Health alone.<\/p>\n In its first four months, President Donald Trump\u2019s administration terminated more than $1.5 billion<\/a> in National Science Foundation grants alone, a wave that has already reached the University. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services canceled five University of Michigan grants<\/a> covering HIV, reproductive health and race-related research. The Social Security Administration halted cooperative agreements with research centers \u201caddressing DEI in Social Security, retirement, and disability policy,\u201d including a $15 million<\/a> study housed on campus.\u00a0<\/p>\n Former University President Santa Ono warned<\/a> these cuts could have \u201csignificant repercussions\u201d for the University\u2019s budget. Although the University knows these terminations are happening, the people absorbing the downside \u2014 almost entirely graduate researchers<\/a> and postdoctoral students \u2014 are often left waiting without clear timelines. In many cases, departments delay firm decisions<\/a> until they know whether replacement funding will materialize, leaving researchers uncertain about next steps.<\/p>\n The University\u2019s obligations to those affected by these funding cuts demand attention. When the University admits a PhD student with a five-year funding commitment, that commitment is presented as the institution\u2019s, not NIH\u2019s. A student\u2019s admission letter does not say \u201ccontingent on federal cooperation,\u201d and no one sitting across from a faculty recruiter is told that the five years are really one year increments<\/a> renewed at the federal government\u2019s discretion. Graduate researchers and postdoctoral fellows \u2014 often working under fixed-term contracts \u2014 face the same uncertainty. Federal cuts are now exposing commitments as conditional in ways that are not disclosed when students are admitted.\u00a0<\/p>\n