UVI Faces Budget Strain as Federal Grants Collapse, Staff Are Laid Off, and Free Tuition Program Teeters

UVI has lost $3.5 million in federal grants, leading to staff layoffs and jeopardizing research, scholarships, and international programs, while delays in local funding and failure to provide the annual $3M appropriation threaten the Free Tuition Program.

The cancellation of several federal grants has placed the University of the Virgin Islands in a particularly precarious position, threatening the continuity of programs and forcing the institution to lay off staff. 

The grim details of the clawback of federal funds were provided by UVI president Safiya George when she presented the University’s FY2026 budget request before the Committee on Budget, Appropriations, and Finance on Thursday.

“Higher education is at a crossroads and, quite frankly, under attack,” testified Ms. George. Funding cuts in the U.S. Department of Education, the National Science Foundation and other federal entities, alongside reductions in Medicaid and SNAP benefits present an “alarming trajectory that undermined the educational and socioeconomic mobility of countless students.”

Thus far, UVI has lost $3.5 million from the cancellation of six federal grants. These cancellations have impacted the university’s “priority areas” including biomedical research, stem leadership, faculty development, international student exchange and climate resilience. Among the losses is a $75,000 USAID and US Forest Service exchange program, intended to fund ten international graduate students from Ghana.