MIT Alumni for Science

Background

Funding Cuts

The federal government has mounted an unprecedented attack on American science. In 2025 alone, more than 7,800 NIH and NSF research grants were cancelled or suspended, amounting to over $29 billion in disrupted funding. The administration's FY2027 budget proposes cutting the NSF by 54%, the NIH by 12.8%, and NASA by 23%. Congressionally-appropriated science funding is being slow-walked by the White House OMB, with the NIH issuing 63% fewer new grants in FY2026 vs. prior years.

More than 25,000 workers have departed federal science agencies since January 2025. And in April 2026, the administration fired all 22 members of the National Science Board—the independent, congressionally-established body that oversees the NSF—without explanation, in what scientists called an unprecedented attack on the independence of American science. Read our latest newsletter for the full picture.

Endowment Tax

The One Big Beautiful Bill, signed into law on July 4, 2025, raised the endowment tax from 1.4% to 8% on net investment income. For MIT, this means roughly 10% of its annual central budget—an expected cost of approximately $300 million annually. This is funding that supports financial aid research.

Who we are

We are a growing, non-partisan, independent community of MIT grads working to bring together alumni across the country to support MIT and make the case for the role America's colleges and universities play in powering innovation, scientific breakthroughs, and economic growth.

We gather at a time when MIT’s mission “to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other fields to serve the nation and the world” is under threat. Drawing inspiration from alumni groups at other universities, we aspire to build a grassroots community to support MIT and its peers and to advocate for the vital contributions these institutions make to research and education for the betterment of the U.S. and the world.

MIT Alumni for Science was founded by MIT alumni and is independent of the university.

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What MIT Is Doing

MIT has already taken wide ranging action to weather financial disruptions and advocate for its ability to continue its mission, including:

Joining peer institutions and organizations in filing suits in federal court seeking to block funding cuts by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Defense, respectively
Instituting 5-10% budget cuts across academic and administrative offices, a hiring freeze on positions, and reducing the number of admitted graduate students for the 2025-2026 academic year
With peer institutions, filing an amicus (“friend of the court”) brief in Harvard University’s lawsuit in relation to elimination of all grant funding it receives from the US government
Launching understanding.mit.edu to document MIT's contributions to American innovation, national security, and economic growth; and becoming the first university to reject the U.S. Department of Education's proposed "Compact" — a decision more than 700 MIT alumni endorsed with signatures.

This list of actions will continue to grow. As committed alumni of MIT, we seek to do our part to stand by MIT—an institution that has made such an enormous impact on our lives as alumni, not to mention its impact on the U.S. and the world.

How you can help

Learn More

Read our latest newsletter or browse all past newsletters for the full picture on what is at stake for American science and what you can do about it.

Register for our May 19 Town Hall with MIT President Sally Kornbluth: Register here.
Watch MIT President Sally Kornbluth's latest message.
Stay up to date on how MIT is responding to federal government actions: mit.edu/response-government-activity.
Add your voice directly in support of MIT: Stand Up for MIT.

Take Action

Join other organizations making a difference:

Volunteer with MIT Alumni for Science.
Contact your U.S. representatives about cuts to NIH, NSF, NASA, and DOE. Find your representative here.
If you attended another university for undergraduate or graduate school, join Stand for Campus Freedom a nonpartisan project uniting alumni across generations and geographies to protect academic freedom and resist political coercion at universities nationwide. Affiliated groups include:Crimson Courage (Harvard), Dartmouth Courage (Dartmouth),Maize and Blue Courage (Michigan), Mammoth Resolve (Amherst),Quaker Courage (Penn), Stand Strong Brown (Brown), Stand Strong Hopkins (Johns Hopkins), Stand Up for Yale (Yale), Terrier Courage (Boston University), Wahoos4UVA (UVA), Longhorns for Liberty (UT Austin), UC Unbowed (University of California),UChicago Alumni for Academic Freedom (UChicago), and more.
Stand Up for Science — a national movement of scientists, researchers, and allies mobilizing through rallies and days of action to save science, protect health, and defend democracy.
Emergency Campaign to Support Higher Education — a national campaign advocating for affordable, accessible, and relevant higher education for all, in defense of universities under political attack.