Seven days later, a late-night executive memo invoked the order to direct all federal agencies to indefinitely pause the disbursement of federal grants and loans.
The directive threw the financial futures of up to 13 million students nationwide into uncertainty. At BC, 67 percent of students received some form of financial aid during the 2024–25 academic year, according to the University, which also received $13,178,387 in federal funding in 2024.
Within hours, the Department of Education clarified that Pell Grants and federal loans would not be affected. Less than two days after that, two federal judges enjoined the order, and Trump rescinded the memo.
Later in the month, the National Science Foundation (NSF) temporarily paused the approval and distribution of new grants in accordance with the same Inauguration Day order. In 2024, BC received $96 million in NSF funding, raising concerns among faculty about stalled research and long-term financial stability.
On Feb. 7, the administration announced a $4 billion cut to federal funding for medical research conducted through the National Institutes of Health.
BC faculty, some of whom receive funding through the National Institutes of Health, raised concerns about the feasibility of replacing the lost funding and the potential impact on ongoing and future projects.
Three days later, a federal judge in Massachusetts temporarily blocked the cuts. An appellate court would later permanently halt the move.
But the month delivered a lasting blow to BC’s research enterprise.
On Feb. 21, the Trump administration terminated the Retirement and Disability Research Consortium, which funded BC’s Center for Retirement Research. The University had been awarded $2.3 million in Social Security Administration funding for fiscal year 2025.
The center’s work included evaluating whether trained volunteers could supplement Social Security Administration staff in responding to public inquiries and examining how a Social Security caregiver credit could support parents.
In a statement to the Plan Sponsor Council of America, the University said it would pursue alternative funding, including outreach to the financial services industry.
The federal funding has not been restored.
The COVID-19 pandemic revealed stark disparities in public health outcomes. Latino communities—particularly individuals with mental illness—faced higher risks of infection and significantly higher rates of morbidity and mortality.
Kirsten Davison, associate dean for research in the School of Social Work, received $1,386,130 in federal grant funding to study a community-based intervention aimed at reducing vaccine hesitancy and increasing COVID-19 and influenza vaccination among Latino adults with mental illness.
On March 8, Davison’s project became the first of five BC research initiatives terminated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
A larger cut followed on March 28 when HHS cut a $3.4 million study that examined whether relocating families from areas of concentrated poverty into mixed-income communities improved health outcomes and social mobility.
By the end of May, nearly $8.7 million in federal research funding would be cut from BC.
In early April, the State Department accelerated the termination of legal statuses for international students—a campaign that began in late March. By April 17, at least 1,024 students at 160 institutions nationwide had lost their status.
During the 2024–25 academic year, 674 international undergraduate students were enrolled at BC according to the University’s Fact Book. It remained unclear whether any BC students were affected. University administrators did not respond to repeated email inquiries at the time and refrained from disclosing specific details during interviews.
The speed and scale of the terminations prompted a public statement from the University on April 15.
“Catholic institutions are called to support and accompany the stranger,” the statement read. “These challenging times require an ongoing commitment to a culture of care, welcome, and hospitality. That commitment has served us well for generations and remains a fundamental and defining aspect of our Jesuit, Catholic community.”
Ten days later, the Trump administration threatened to withhold nearly $9 billion in federal funding from Harvard University unless it dismantled its DEI programs. The administration’s perceived overstep prompted University President Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J., to sign a letter alongside other university leaders condemning what it called “unprecedented overreach and political interference” in higher education.
It would be the last public rebuke of the Trump administration issued by senior BC leadership.
In early June, the Trump administration escalated its restrictions on international travel—a move that compounded months of policy shifts already unsettling global academic mobility.
On June 4, Trump signed a broad travel ban that took effect on June 9.
The proclamation cited national security and public safety concerns and imposed full or partial entry restrictions on nationals from at least 19 countries with perceived deficiencies in screening, vetting, or cooperation with U.S. authorities.
The measures applied to both immigrant and non-immigrant visas, including student and exchange visitor categories, with few exceptions.
The ban had imposed restrictions on as many as 15 international students at BC.
In response, University administrators issued an advisory on June 5, urging affected students to remain in the country or return to the United States before the ban took effect.
Administrators acknowledged the fluid policy environment and said BC was developing comprehensive support plans for affected students, even as other universities debated deferral policies for those from restricted countries.
The ban remains in place and was expanded to include additional countries in December.
On July 4, Trump signed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacting one of the most significant changes to federal student loan policy in decades.
The law will impose new annual and lifetime caps on how much graduate students and parents can borrow from the federal government.
Under the legislation, graduate students will be limited to $20,500 per year and $100,000 total in federal unsubsidized loans, and professional students studying medicine or law will face caps of $50,000 per year and $200,000 total. A broader federal lifetime aggregate of $257,500 across all loan types also applies.
Before the bill’s signing, there were no lifetime or annual caps on student loans.
Though the limits take effect in 2026, the bill raises uncertainty about future student financial planning, including for current students.
