The Trump administration plans to put more than $100 million toward education programs for U.S. researchers in science, technology, engineering and math, Bloomberg reported Oct. 7.
President Donald Trump will announce the initiative at an Oct. 8 White House summit, an administration official told Bloomberg. The money will fund fellowships for science and engineering PhD programs. The funding will support science and engineering PhD fellowships aimed at producing more U.S. citizens with advanced research training.
The administration also plans to bring back the National Science Foundation’s Young Scholars program three decades after it ended in 1996. The federal government will invest $30 million, while Jane Street and other outside backers will contribute $50 million.
A separate initiative will focus on the NIH’s early-career research workforce. The federal workforce shed more than 10,000 STEM PhD holders in the administration’s first year, roughly 1,100 of them at the NIH, Science reported in January 2026.
The investment will “help to ensure America keeps leading the world in discovery,” Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said in a statement.
The push comes as federal policies have reduced the number of international students in U.S. doctoral programs. Nearly 4 in 10 science and engineering doctoral students in 2024 were international, federal data shows. PhD admissions dropped 15% year over year, according to the Association of American Universities.
Doctoral programs have also struggled with federal research grant cuts and freezes. Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins University, a major training ground for biomedical researchers, saw its federal funding drop nearly 45% this year. The administration has also sought cuts to NIH and NSF budgets, and set new limits on graduate student borrowing.
In addition, the Department of Homeland Security proposed Oct. 7 a $70,000 fee for foreign students applying for F-1s, a widely used post-graduation work visa, plus $30,000 more for a STEM extension.
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