On February 13, 2025, recipients of State Department grant funding were informed of a 15-day temporary pause on all disbursements, effective February 12, and applying to all current and future grant payments scheduled during this period. The pause was set to expire on February 27 and yet no federal action has been taken to lift it. This effectively suspends international education and exchange programs, including Fulbright, the Gilman Scholarship program, the IDEAS program, and the Critical Language Scholarship Program.

As the leaders of NAFSA, the Alliance for International Exchange, and the Forum on Education Abroad said in a statement, this continued funding freeze harms every aspect of the international education and exchange sector and leaves programs, participants, and implementing partners in a state of limbo and financial hardship.

In collaboration with its coalition partners, NAFSA launched an advocacy campaign urging Congress to restore funding for these programs immediately.

UPDATE: As of March 26, 85 percent of the Department of State payments that had been withheld have been paid. This is incredibly encouraging progress. A new payment process within the State Department seems to be coalescing and through that process, a cadence of payments is slowly but surely developing. Despite this progress, challenges remain. It will take implementing organizations some time to restabilize after the disruption of nearly two months without funding. Organizations also need to have confidence that this new payment process will continue to work and that they can count on future funding. We must keep the pressure on!

Take Action

  • Urge Congress to demand that funding be restored for these proven programs—for which Congress has passed laws directing the administration to implement. Please take the additional step of customizing this message with specific examples of how this funding suspension is having a direct impact on your communities.
  • The Forum on Education Abroad has created a social media toolkit containing graphics and sample social media posts to highlight the impact of this freeze on study abroad. Promote it among your networks, including among students and alumni.
  • Share your examples of the immediate and potential effects of the funding freeze and other executive actions affecting Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) programs, National Institutes of Health (NIH) research funding, and extreme vetting of international students and scholars. Entries may be submitted anonymously.