9/26/25: Universities May Face Huge Costs From Trump’s $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee (Forbes) As American colleges and universities continue to reel from the enormous costs of recent Trump administration cutbacks to federal funding for research and other educational programs, they now face a new financial threat — a huge hike in the cost of hiring foreign workers on H-1B visas. https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2025/09/26/universities-may-face-huge-costs-from-trumps-100000-h-1b-visa-fee/
See also: Why Trump’s sweeping visa restrictions will backfire (The Hill, Opinion) https://thehill.com/opinion/immigration/5520281-h1b-visa-restrictions-trump/
See also: Trump’s $100K visa fee for foreign talent: how will it affect researchers? (Nature) https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03111-7
9/26/25: New Report Finds Low Share of R&D Funds Goes to HBCUs (Inside Higher Ed) A new report from the Center for American Progress and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund shows that historically Black colleges and universities receive a disproportionately low percentage of federal research and development funding. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/09/26/new-report-finds-low-share-rd-funds-goes-hbcus
9/25/25: White House Threat of Federal Layoffs Only Deepens Shutdown Impasse (New York Times) With only five days remaining to fund the government, the White House’s threat to conduct mass federal firings was a bid to maximize the pain of a possible shutdown and pressure Democrats into caving and accepting a short-term deal. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/us/politics/democrats-government-shutdown-layoffs-threats.html
9/25/25: Updated NIH Policy on Allowable Costs for Animals (NOT-OD-25-163) This notice alerts the extramural research community of updates to the NIH Grants Policy Statement 7.9.1 , Selected Items of Cost. Effective October 1, 2025, NIH will allow recipients to charge costs for rehoming/retirement of experimental animals. https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-25-163.html
9/25/25: Researchers are relieved at Trump’s likely pick for National Cancer Institute (Science) President Donald Trump is expected to tap Anthony Letai, a highly regarded Harvard Medical School oncologist and basic scientist, to lead the $7.2 billion National Cancer Institute (NCI), the largest cancer research funding agency in the world. https://www.science.org/content/article/researchers-are-relieved-trump-s-likely-pick-national-cancer-institute
9/25/25: The EPA’s shaken foundation (Science, Editorial) The loss of ORD is already felt. For example, EPA proposes to rescind a 2009 finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health. ORD would have been able to review and update the science pertaining to the 2009 finding. Instead, EPA is relying on a controversial and unbalanced “Climate Working Group” report issued in July 2025 by the US Department of Energy . Given its extensive experience in assessment science that comports with applicable laws such as the Information Quality Act , ORD would have been in a better position to prepare a far more credible report. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aec2623
9/25/25: The Grand Strategy Behind Trump’s Crackdown on Academia (New York Times, Opinion) https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/opinion/trump-academia-victim-may-mailman.html
9/24/25: The Research Trump Hates (The Chronicle) In a hyper-politicized environment, scientists who study vaccine hesitancy, gender identity, and climate change are seeing federal funding cut or under threat. https://www.chronicle.com/podcast/college-matters-from-the-chronicle/the-research-trump-hates
