Future of Rice research uncertain amid possible federal funding freeze
The White House announced a pause on all federal grants and loans Jan. 27. The freeze was slated to go into effect Jan. 28 at 5 p.m. EST — just minutes before the clock hit, a federal judge temporarily blocked the freeze, effective until Feb. 3.
The Office of Management and Budget issued a memorandum requiring that federal agencies must identify and review all federal financial assistance programs and halt those that do not align with the Trump administration’s stated agenda.
“Federal agencies must temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance, and other relevant agency activities that may be implicated by the executive orders, including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology and the green new deal,” the memo reads.
Rice University has received $1.9 billion in total federal awards, including $1.6 billion in federal grants, since 2002. The university saw a record-high grant award total in 2023, receiving $121.8 million in federal grant funding. Rice also received $167 million and $155 million in 2024 and 2023 respectively from federal grants and contracts, according to their financial statements.
The National Science Foundation, which awarded the Rice-based Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment Center $16.5 million and Rice’s OpenStax $90 million, canceled all of its grant review panels this week and froze its grant review process in response to the executive orders.
The impact on future funding is unclear as federal agencies pause activities related to disbursing financial assistance, with over 2,000 agencies under review.
Pell Grants and federal direct student loans are not impacted by the executive order, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Education later told the New York Times. Rice disbursed $152 million in grant and scholarship money to undergraduate students last year, said Paul Negrete, executive director of university financial aid services, in a Jan. 27 Senate meeting. Negrete was in attendance to deliver a presentation on Rice’s financial aid policies.
In a statement to the Thresher, Negrete later said “the Office of Management and Budget and U.S. Department of Education clarified Title IV federal student aid is not included in the temporary pause of federal financial assistance programs.
“In addition, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs confirmed GI Bill payments are not included in the federal pause.”
The majority of Rice’s aid funding is raised internally, and only 5% comes from federal or state sources, Negrete said at the Jan. 27 Senate. Negrete also said Rice has a zero-loan policy, where any aid received from Rice will be made up of grant aid and institutional aid based on income level, not federal loans.
“Rice University is closely monitoring the temporary pause on federal financial assistance programs and assessing its potential impact on areas like research and student financial aid,” university spokesperson Chris Stipes wrote in a statement to the Thresher. “We are committed to providing our students, faculty and staff with the information and support they need as we better understand the impact of the pause.”
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