As fears about funding for doctoral programs and students rise nationwide amid deep federal cuts, the University released a statement on Thursday promising that all offers and funding packages will remain intact.

The statement, signed by Graduate School Dean Terrence Deak, affirmed the University’s commitment to maintaining the level of funding and offers normally sent.

“We write today to provide assurance that Binghamton University has no plans to adjust our strategy for doctoral recruitment for the incoming class of 2025-26,” Deak wrote in the message to the campus community. “Late-breaking changes at this crucial time of the recruitment season are unwarranted and would unnecessarily violate the trust of applicants who aspire to join our doctoral programs. We, therefore, recommend that all graduate programs proceed with their graduate recruitment efforts as planned.”

Many universities that rely heavily on funding from grants or contracts are losing resources or preemptively making budget cuts. At the University of Pennsylvania, the graduate program was forced to renege on informal offers, essentially “unaccepting” students.

“Sensing concerns of faculty, staff, and aspiring graduate students, we felt it was critical to reassure everyone that Binghamton University graduate programs are on a solid footing, that graduate admissions should proceed as planned, and that Binghamton University was prepared to stand behind its plans for doctoral admissions,” Deak wrote to Pipe Dream.

“Uncertainty often derails progress, and we felt the reassuring note would give the campus and aspiring students one less thing to worry about, enabling greater focus on their academic and career goals,” he continued.

Most of the funding cuts affecting universities come at the urging of the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency — a federal cost-cutting initiative headed by Elon Musk — and its plans to stop “liberal D.E.I. Dean’s slush funds.” Other colleges and universities affected include the University of California, San Diego and Yale University, the latter of which will provide temporary funding from its own pocket.

Other institutions of higher education nationwide, including Cornell University, the University of Louisville and Stanford University, have frozen the hiring of faculty and staff to overcome or get ahead of the funding shortage.

Donald Hall, the University’s provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, told Pipe Dream that BU is “committed to supporting our graduate students and plan a vigorous recruitment season for our programs.” His sentiment was echoed on the Graduate School’s LinkedIn page, with a March 6 post affirming that its program was “robust and on track” for a new class of doctoral students.

“Let’s be clear: Binghamton University is NOT pausing or curtailing doctoral admissions,” the post read. “We are NOT retracting offers that have been made to applicants. We are NOT going to wreak havoc to our graduate admissions cycle or disappoint the MANY amazing applicants who aspire to join our graduate programs.”

While the Graduate Student Employee Union’s leadership said in a statement that they were relieved to see the University’s continued commitment to higher education and research, they added that “these promises do not translate to adequate support for current graduate workers.”

“Since July 1st, 2023, we have worked without a contract despite teaching 40% of undergraduate courses and driving the research that maintains the University’s R1 status,” the statement read.

“Program funding alone is insufficient when graduate workers remain paid below living wage,” it continued. “The GSEU remains committed to advocating for the rights and well-being of all graduate workers. We urge the University and the State to move beyond rhetoric and take real, substantive action to support the graduate employees who are vital to Binghamton University’s success.”