George Washington University is pausing admissions to five Ph.D. programs for fall 2026, citing financial hardships.
According to social media posts, applicants to the programs received emails last week alerting them that the programs “will not be reviewing applications for the 2026–2027 academic year.” The emails went on to say that their application fees would be refunded and offered them the opportunity to be considered for master’s programs instead.
The Ph.D. programs affected are in clinical psychology, anthropology, human paleobiology, political science and mathematics.
A university spokesperson attributed the pauses to financial difficulties.
“Like many universities, we are taking a close look at how best to support our PhD programs while maintaining the highest standards in doctoral education in a difficult fiscal environment. Our recent actions do not reflect a long-term closure or suspension of programs,” the spokesperson told Inside Higher Ed in an email. “Rather, they represent a need to limit new commitments in order to ensure that we fully meet our funding commitments to continuing PhD students” in those five departments.
Two faculty members told Inside Higher Ed that the university was also slashing the total number of Ph.D. packages across all departments within the Columbian College of Arts & Sciences. GWU did not respond to a question about those additional cuts.
The suspensions follow other instances of high-profile institutions slashing admissions to Ph.D. programs due to budget concerns, including Boston University, the University of Chicago and Harvard University. In a recent Faculty Senate meeting, GWU president Ellen Granberg asked the university’s schools and divisions to prepare “budget contingency plans” amid declines in applications from international students, the student newspaper, The GW Hatchet, reported. International students accounted for about 13 percent of the institution’s enrollment this fall, a decrease from the previous year.
Huynh-Nhu Le, who leads the clinical psychology Ph.D. program, said that faculty have been aware for a while that cuts might be coming. In addition to declines in international students, GWU has been a victim of the Trump administration’s research funding cuts. And the program’s cohort size was already shrinking; for fall 2025, the clinical psych Ph.D. admitted a record low three students, down from the typical eight or nine.
But Le didn’t expect that the program would admit no new students for fall 2026. The pause came as a result of the College of Arts & Sciences allocating just two slots for its three doctoral psychology programs combined. Because the American Psychological Association requires a minimum number of students in a clinical psychology Ph.D. cohort to promote “professional socialization,” Le decided not to admit any this year.
The decision is likely to have a “ripple effect” on GWU’s clinic, Le said, where first-year students typically perform vital duties like answering phones and conducting intake appointments.
‘Hoping It’s an Anomaly’
Other departments had to make similarly difficult decisions. According to Joel Brewster Lewis, an associate mathematics professor and the director of the department’s graduate programs, annual Ph.D. funding packages are decided by the dean’s office. This year, the amount of funding available to the mathematics department was equivalent to the number of continuing Ph.D. students in the department, meaning there was no funding available for new students.
“We as a department opted to continue their funding next year rather than defund them and run admissions on those packages,” Lewis wrote in an email.
In the human paleobiology program, funding for an incoming Ph.D. student would have been available only if a current student graduated this summer, according to Alison Brooks, a professor in the anthropology department and a faculty member within the Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology. One student is on track to graduate this summer, she said, but by the time the department knows for sure, it would be too late to admit another student.
GWU’s human paleobiology Ph.D. program is one of the most recognized at the institution, Brooks said. In a typical year, the program admits roughly three students.
“We have very high numbers of graduates in tenure-track jobs and other prestigious positions. Two members of our small faculty are in the National Academy of Science and Medicine. And generally we get some funding every year to support research initiatives, in addition to outside funding, to carry on with what we do,” she said. “We’re not necessarily being singled out, but we’re not being preferred, either.”
Le, of the clinical psychology Ph.D. program, said she hopes this year is just a “blip.”
“It’s really unfortunate. It’s not only our program—I think other clinical programs in the U.S. are going through the same thing,” she said. “I’m hoping it’s an anomaly for this year.”