HGSE Affiliates Are Pessimistic About Education Careers Under Trump Admin

Under threat of funding cuts and the Trump administration’s federal hiring freeze, students and professors at the Harvard Graduate School of Education say their options to pursue humanitarian work and public teaching careers in education have been sharply restricted.

The freeze, and a looming threat by Trump to abolish the Department of Education, has HGSE affiliates concerned international partners will no longer be able host American teachers or provide stable career pathways.

The Trump administration later rescinded its sweeping pause on federal funding, though the hiring freeze is still in effect.

HGSE professor Fernando M. Reimers, who specializes in international education, said the hiring freeze could be particularly painful for education programs funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, which funds literacy programs in more than 60 countries.

“The foreign aid freeze ordered by Secretary of State Marco Rubio has already led to staff suspensions and to layoffs in the organizations that work as implementing partners for USAID,” Reimers wrote in a statement.

“If that freeze continues, it would also impact those among our current students who had hoped to pursue careers either in USAID or with implementing partners,” he added.

Reimers wrote that many HGSE students are interested in public service, humanitarian work, and international development as well as work in education departments on the local, state, and national levels.

HGSE professor of practice Emiliana Vegas also said she was concerned for students working at larger international agencies, including the Agency for National Development, the United Nations, or the World Bank, where she spent much of her career.

For her own research, which improves educational systems in low and middle-income countries, Vegas said she had found other funders to avoid relying on the federal government alone.

Nancy M. Garcia Castillo, a veteran teacher of 14 years and current HGSE student, said the funding freeze created “instability” for her and her own students.

“We thought that the freeze was going to hurt our students somehow because some of the programs are supported by federal money,” Garcia Castillo said, adding that special education programs funded by the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act could be at risk.

“It’s not fully funded, but they’re supported,” she said.

Garcia Castillo, who said she hopes to work in a nonprofits and higher education after graduation, said she checked the Department of Education’s career page multiple times during the past week.

“It has no positions open,” she said.

Garcia Castillo said she still worries about Trump following through on his promise to abolish the Department of Education entirely.

Siena Laws, a Human Development and Education Program student who wants to pursue school counseling, said that the funding freezes have been “overwhelming.”

“I think that when you’re going into education and social work and working with people, there's an expectation or understanding that it’s a very turbulent kind of career path,” Laws said.

“I guess I always kind of expected to have to be flexible,” she added.

For other students, concerns over immigration were a bigger priority.

Maria Ximena Valenzuela, an undocumented HGSE student interested in out-of-school time programming, said that immigration issues and the threat of raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement are more pressing concerns.

“As an undocumented student, I think I’m aware that there are certain grants and contracts and funding sources that the government needs to review in order to give access to funding to students like me,” Valenzuela said.

After spending more time working, Valenzuela hopes to return to pursue her postgraduate studies. But she said she might rethink plans to pursue a PhD based on the scrutiny over education policy.

“I think this is something that makes me kind of pause,” Valenzuela said.

— Staff writer Tanya J. Vidhun can be reached at tanya.vidhun@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @tanyavidhun.