Hegseth to make additional Funding Cuts

In late February 2026, Hegseth announced the “complete and immediate cancellation of all Department of War attendance” at institutions including Princeton, Columbia, MIT, Brown, and Yale, starting in the 2026–2027 academic year. This directive specifically ended: · Graduate-level professional military education, fellowships, and certificate programs for active-duty service members at these schools. · Tuition assistance and other Department of War subsidies for the targeted universities. The cuts affected the Senior Service College Fellowship, a program that sent mid-career officers to elite universities for advanced study as a pathway to senior leadership. Currently enrolled personnel were allowed to finish their studies, but new funding ends for the 2026–27 academic year. Additional Levers Hegseth Could Pull If Hegseth wants to further remove funding, several avenues remain, though some carry more risk or legal complexity than others. 1. Expand the Ban to the Broader Tuition Assistance Program So far, Hegseth has preserved the much larger Tuition Assistance program, which helps roughly 200,000 active-duty or reserve service members cover tuition at nearly any U.S. college. He could extend the Ivy League ban to this program entirely, preventing service members from using any federal military tuition funds at those schools. This would be a significant escalation because, while only about 350 service members used Tuition Assistance at the targeted schools in 2024, the symbolic and financial impact on those institutions would be greater. 2. Target ROTC Programs The Pentagon has stated there is currently “no impact to ROTC programs” at the Ivy League schools. Hegseth could reverse this policy and cut funding for ROTC units at those campuses. However, this carries a recruiting risk: the military relies on ROTC at elite universities to commission officers from those talent pools. As one analysis noted, Hegseth “would risk an irreparable loss by tampering with ROTC”. 3. Cut Pentagon Research Funding The Department of War provides substantial research funding to Ivy League institutions—Harvard alone received about $300 million** in total Pentagon funding, including **$180 million in defense research grants. Hegseth could direct the termination of research grants and contracts with these universities, framing it as aligning funding with “Department priorities”. This would hit the schools far harder financially than tuition programs, but it could also deprive the military of cutting-edge research in areas like AI, cybersecurity, and quantum computing. 4. Use Federal Funding Leverage The Trump administration has already threatened to deny federal research funds to Ivy League schools over various policy disputes. Hegseth could coordinate with other federal agencies to make military education funding contingent on institutional policy changes, effectively using the Pentagon’s budget as a tool to force compliance. 5. Refuse to Recognize Academic Credit Hegseth’s current directive cuts off “formal professional military education credit” tied to the targeted programs. He could go further by issuing a department-wide policy that no academic credits earned at these institutions—even if funded by other sources—will count toward promotion, military education requirements, or service obligations. This would remove the incentive for officers to attend on their own dime. 6. Redirect to Approved Institutions The Pentagon has already released a list of 21 preferred partner institutions, including Liberty University, Hillsdale College, and several public universities, to replace the Ivy League schools. Hegseth could formalize this by making attendance at an approved institution a prerequisite for certain fellowships or promotions, further draining demand for Ivy League programs. Bottom Line Hegseth has already cut the direct pipeline of Pentagon-funded graduate education at Ivy League schools. To go further, he could expand the ban to the broader Tuition Assistance program, target ROTC, cut research funding, or refuse to recognize academic credit. Each option carries trade-offs—particularly ROTC and research cuts—but all are within the scope of his authority as Secretary of War.