Students at the College have faced disruptions to their summer plans, including the cancellation of summer research programs and federal internships, amid a federal hiring freeze and significant cuts to federal funding for research.
Some students have already been impacted by funding cuts, according to Dale Osef, the ’68 Center for Career Exploration’s assistant director of STEM and health careers. “A few students have had offers rescinded, particularly in the biomedical field,” he wrote in a statement to the Record. “This is a recent development, as of [February]. The rescinded offers seem to be a direct consequence of changes to federal funding that [are] affecting students across the country.”
Cody McManus ’27, said he lost an internship at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) following cuts to federal funding. “I spent a bunch of time applying to the NIH over any other internship, and it was the one that I intended to go with,” he said. “Weeks after that, I got an email that [the program] was axed, and I had to scramble last minute and fill out a bunch more applications.”
McManus said he was able to find another internship outside of government, but that he knows several people who have not yet found other opportunities.
“I wasted a bunch of time, and it was really disappointing,” McManus said.
Although some students have been directly affected, funding changes have not yet caused widespread disruption at the College, Executive Director of the ’68 Center Don Kjelleren said in a statement to the Record. “It is still too early to assess the full effects of federal funding changes here at Williams,” he wrote.
Kjelleren said that the ’68 Center has been monitoring the effects of the funding cuts. “At the national level, we are tracking potential contractions in scientific research, particularly in STEM fields that rely on federal grants from agencies like the National Science Foundation, [NIH], and the Department of Energy,” he wrote. “Reductions in funding for these agencies could mean fewer research assistantships, internships, and national lab positions for Williams students, limiting hands-on experience, which is invaluable in today’s marketplace.”
’68 Center Associate Director of External Relations Scott LaChapelle noted that, according to Handshake data available to the ’68 Center, the number of STEM industry-related postings made between July 2024 and March 2025 was 27 percent lower than in the same period from 2023 to 2024. Kjelleren said that future cuts to humanities and social science funding are also likely.
A number of other policies, including the federal hiring freeze that took effect Jan. 20 as well as decreased funding to the U.S. Department of State have affected students’ job searches.
Vincent Tocci ’26 received an offer for a highly selective internship with the U.S. Department of State last November — on Election Day, he said. In March, he received an email notifying him that the program had been cancelled due to the federal hiring freeze and his offer had been rescinded.
“I understand where [the Trump administration] is coming from, with the idea that the government is inefficient and we need to reduce costs,” he said. “But right now, they’re taking a sledgehammer to these departments and cutting for the sake of cutting. I think that’s very problematic and is going to cause harm in the future as well.”
Tocci said that Trump administration changes have forced him to rethink his long-term career plans of becoming a diplomat. He is now thinking of pursuing law school instead and has not applied to internships with any other federal agencies.
“It’s kind of a tough point to be graduating soon,” he said. “Because at this point, I am not going to be able to get a job until Donald Trump is out of office, and even then, it’s still a question mark.”
Osef said that the climate surrounding jobs and summer opportunities remains unpredictable. “Each day seems to present changes, challenges, and sometimes even renewed hope,” he wrote. “The courts have been stepping in and halting some of the funding freezes, making funds available again to institutions that may have previously had them rescinded. While this is true in some cases, it is a very complicated process, and is certainly not true in all of them.”
Federal funding cuts and freezes have been particularly damaging to summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REUs) programs, with some operating at a fraction of their expected budget.
Some students, like Kiara Muñoz Diaz ’27, have needed to completely alter their plans. “My original plan for this summer was to get involved in undergraduate neuroscience research at another institution,” Muñoz Diaz said. “Pretty immediately [after changes to funding were announced], it became clear that my plans would be halted or changed completely. Research at universities is entirely dependent on grants and federal funding … Numerous programs have been cancelled, including one I applied for.”
Professor of Mathematics Steven Miller, who serves as the director of SMALL, Williams’ Math REU, said that the program is funded by an existing grant, so is yet to be disrupted. “Typically [grants for] summer programs are … three years [long]. And so we are going to be in our second summer right now, so we were not applying for new grants,” he said.
Despite administering a program that could be affected by funding cuts in the future, Miller said he understands the rationale behind them. “What we are doing is unsustainable,” he said. “We are about to hit, if we haven’t already hit, having one out of every six tax dollars going to pay off the interest on the national debt.”
“One of the reasons I’m here is because I love working with students,” Miller added. “But when we only have finitely many dollars, we have to really think about how we want to spend them … I would much rather have a larger conversation, not about specific programs, but maybe overarching — where do we want to allocate the funds?”
Muñoz Diaz said she thought the budget cuts were unsurprising. “I am mainly frustrated. I think these repercussions come as no surprise to those who understand the goals of the current administration,” she said. “There’s power and autonomy in education, and that is exactly what will keep us moving forward.”
Regardless of the availability of federal funding, staff at the ’68 Center said that they expect Williams students will be able to adapt. “While we are still at the beginning of learning whether … and to what extent [students’ plans will be] shaped by these federal funding trends, Williams students should feel confident in the flexibility of their degrees,” Kjelleren wrote.
“The right opportunity might already exist or can be created by combining innovative thinking learned at Williams with conversations with the right people in a field of interest,” Osef wrote. “I believe confidence in the right opportunity coming along and the refusal to give up will lead anyone to success.”
Muñoz Diaz agreed and expressed gratitude for College support. “I am determined to continue pursuing what interests me despite these setbacks,” she said. “I do not know where I would be without the financial support and security I am able to receive from Williams which makes all the difference during these uncertain times in research.”
David Wignall contributed reporting.