UMass medical school rescinds PhD program offers amid uncertainty over federal funds

UMass Chan Medical School has rescinded acceptance offers to several dozen incoming doctoral students at its Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences because of the uncertainty surrounding federal funds.

The school notified the students Wednesday that provisional admission offers for this fall were rescinded. The notice, signed by dean of the college, Mary Ellen Lane, called the decision "unfortunate" and said institutions across the country are "rescinding offers of admission as one means of controlling spending during a highly uncertain time."

"With uncertainties related to the funding of biomedical research in this country, this difficult decision was made to ensure that our current students’ progress is not disrupted by the funding cuts and that we avoid matriculating students who may not have robust opportunities for dissertation research," the notice said.

The email also told the students they would receive priority consideration — and would not have to reapply — if they want to join the doctorate program in the future.

One student who expected to attend the program this fall said she was "shocked" and had no idea that rescinding an admissions offer was a possibility.

The 22-year-old, who asked to be identified only by her middle name Lynn because of concerns that speaking publicly could affect her employment at the medical school, feels fortunate though. She was admitted into another doctoral program and formally accepted that offer Thursday.

"I think the way UMass did this was irresponsible," Lynn said. "Many people said no to other programs and they're left with nothing."

The move does not affect current doctoral candidates or applicants to UMass Chan’s two other graduate schools: the T.H. Chan School of Medicine and the Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing.

UMass Chan Medical School announced a freeze on hiring and discretionary spending earlier this week because of the Trump administration's plan to cap research funding from the National Institutes of Health. Traditionally, doctoral candidates do not pay tuition and earn a stipend funded by research grants.

There is a preliminary injunction on the NIH funding cap during legal proceedings.

The medical school would lose $40 to $50 million a year in support of their biomedical research programs if the cap as originally outlined is implemented.