BOSTON — This fall, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where 95% of students are STEM majors, enrolled nearly 500 fewer graduate students — a 20% drop compared to 2024. The reduction is a direct result of a $100 million cut in federal research awards to the institution in that same timespan, MIT President Sally Kornbluth said at the STAT Summit Wednesday in Boston.
Graduate students are largely supported with these grants, and “if we admit someone, we don’t want them to be partway through their Ph.D. and run out of funding, so we tend to be conservative on the front end,” Kornbluth said. “I wish I had a crystal ball and knew when things were going to turn around, but for now we’re just being cautious.”