November 9, 2025

Ph.D. cuts hurt academia

Khadija T. Khan, Harvard Crimson - Earlier this month, Harvard announced that it would accept significantly fewer students to its graduate programs, one of the many cost-saving measures it has implemented in response to the Trump administration threatening billions of dollars in University funding.

Some might be wondering why anyone should care if, for example, the number of Harvard history Ph.D.s drops from 13 to five. Although these cuts might not look important, they signify something far darker for higher education. A lack of Ph.D. students will be felt everywhere: in the undergraduate classes that currently rely on their instruction, in the fields their research could have propelled forward, and, perhaps most importantly, in the generations to come that will suffer an absence of qualified educators. Trump’s attacks have irrevocably altered the playing field for academia, and it may never recover.

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