By Kritika Agarwal
Last month, President Trump released additional details regarding his FY26 budget proposal. The proposal includes steep cuts to science and education programs across the federal government. Here are a few significant takeaways from the budget request:
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National Institutes of Health: The proposal includes $27 billion in base funding for the NIH, a nearly 40% decrease from FY25. The document also mandates a 15% cap on facilities and administrative costs and includes a plan to consolidate and restructure NIH’s institutes and centers.
AAU noted in a statement that the proposal “would set us back for decades in the fight against cancer and other diseases as well as in in developing the other medical advances and cures that NIH catalyzes.”
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National Science Foundation: The proposal includes $3.9 billion in total funding for the NSF, a 56% cut from FY25. The budget proposal includes an anticipated award funding rate of 7% for competitive awards. According to Science, “The president’s budget, which requires congressional approval, would deliver a crushing blow to the many thousands of academic researchers who depend on NSF funding.”
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NASA: The proposal includes $18.8 billion for NASA and $3.9 billion for NASA Science, a 24% and 47% cut, respectively, from FY25. As Space.com notes, “This would be the biggest single-year cut to NASA in history, and the 2026 funding would be the agency's lowest since 1961 when adjusted for inflation, according to The Planetary Society, a nonprofit exploration advocacy organization.” The proposal also cancels several missions across NASA Science and eliminates the Office of STEM Engagement.
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Department of Energy: The proposal includes $7.1 billion for the DOE Office of Science, a 14% cut from FY25; the request includes $200 million for the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, a 57% cut from FY25. ARPA-E helps “commercialize high-risk, high-reward energy technologies” and has, over the past 15 years, supported 1,700 energy technology projects at companies, labs, and research universities around the country.
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Department of Defense: The proposal notes that “a separate document containing budget estimates for the Department of Defense will be published in June 2025.”
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Department of Education: The proposal includes $66.7 billion for ED, a 15.3% cut from FY25. The proposal sets the maximum Pell Grant award at $5,710 for the 2026-27 award year – a $1,685 decrease from the current maximum award. The proposal also eliminates funding completely for the Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG) program, Federal TRIO programs, and the Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN) program; it proposes a $980 million cut to the Federal Work-Study Program.
As Inside Higher Ed notes, the proposed cut to the Pell Grant award, if enacted, would reverse “more than a decade of efforts to steadily boost the award, which helps low-income students attend college.”
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Agriculture and Food Research Initiative: The proposal includes $405 million for AFRI, a 9% decrease from FY25. Housed within the U.S. Department of Agriculture, AFRI is the nation’s leading competitive grants program supporting research and education in food and agriculture.
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National Endowment for the Humanities: The proposal zeroes out funding for the NEH and calls for its elimination. The proposal also eliminates the National Endowment for the Arts and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
“President Trump’s FY26 budget proposal, if adopted, would destroy America’s longstanding role as the global leader in science and innovation – along with the countless health, security, and economic benefits that flow from that leadership,” AAU said in a statement, adding: “We look forward to working with Congress to develop a FY26 budget that would help sustain continued American scientific leadership rather than destroying it.”
Kritika Agarwal is assistant vice president for communications, editorial content and strategy at AAU.