University of Miami student Jackson Kuster spent months pouring his heart into extensive federal internship applications.
Over winter break, he interviewed with the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission and landed a position in its administrative branch. It’s the only internship offer he received.
Just a few weeks later, his supervisor informed him that the offer had been rescinded in the wake of President Donald Trump’s 90-day federal hiring freeze. It's all part of the president's plan under the Department of Government Efficiency — led by Elon Musk — to make “large-scale reductions in force” of federal employees and freeze trillions of dollars in federal grant funds.
“I read through the entire executive order when it came out, and I was like, this isn't looking good for me,” Kuster told WLRN. “When I got the email, I wasn't shocked. I was mostly disappointed.”
Trump's historic federal hiring freeze and firing spree has eliminated thousands of jobs and placed thousands more on indefinite hold. For students sitting on the cusp of internships or post-graduate jobs in the government, the freeze has been devastating.
“I would have had a really cool internship this year and most likely next year as well and a solid track to a well paying career,” Kuster said.
With funding cuts and research grant changes also anticipated to impact graduate programs, students are wondering what options they have left.
The U.S. government traditionally opens up tens of thousands of internship positions for the up-and-coming class of government employees. In 2023, the Biden administration set a goal of hiring 35,000 interns across federal agencies after discovering 8% of federal employees are under age 30.
Many of these positions are advertised on the USA Jobs database.
“There used to be like 60 pages of results. Now there's only two or three at any time,” Kuster said.
READ MORE: Federal hiring freeze comes at a critical time for South Florida national parks
Kuster is one of thousands of students who have had internships revoked months before they were slated to start. The change left him without summer employment plans that are often seen as the getaway to a full-time opportunity.
Addie Murphy, a health science major at UM, recently landed a position as a research assistant at the Miami Veterans Association. She had just finished all the paperwork and blood tests required to start working when she received an email. Her job, too, had been cancelled.
“I was very nervous about what this meant for my position since I love my position and love getting to do research,” she said.
The freeze has not prevented Murphy from volunteering her time at the VA, but it removed her credentials, official employment status and source of income.
“I was very fortunate that I was still able to be an unpaid volunteer in the lab, but I am now not allowed to interact with any patients or become a paid employee,” Murphy said.
In addition to the hiring freeze, the threats to funding have led some universities to halt, slow down or overturn admissions to doctorate and graduate programs, including the University of Pittsburgh, University of Southern California and Vanderbilt University.
The uncertainty on funding stems from a memo from the administration stating that the National Institutes of Health would cap indirect costs, the operational and administrative expenses of research, at 15%. The funding cut is currently blocked in court in court.
Several universities in South Florida are expected to take a major funding hit if the order goes into effect.
Last year, UM received more than $192 million in NIH funding, while Florida International University received nearly $40 million. The federal dollars typically helps fund research and staff, including graduate students.
This is another blow to students who had hoped to pursue a graduate education.
UM sophomore Victor Jaimes has always intended to pursue a Ph.D. in mathematics after graduation. Two years away from walking across the stage, Jaimes is already doubting what his field has to offer.
“The part that's scariest for me is how grad school is going to work once I graduate,” he said.
“I have heard about people either being waitlisted, flat out rejected or even accepted and then being retroactively rejected. That's something I'm really worried about because I really want to study in the U.S., but if the funding issue isn't fixed, then I might have to leave to study somewhere else.”
The only alternative students see is to focus their energy on the private sector. But with a congested job market, it’s not likely to be any easier.
One UM student, who declined to identify himself at risk of losing future job opportunities, said he had intended to intern in a summer research program at the NIH working in a lab focused on cancer or infectious diseases.
“Now I have to pivot and find non-research work because I lost that opportunity,” he said.
He, too, is now looking for work in the private sector.
Copyright 2025 WLRN Public Media
