The University of North Florida has had six major federal grants defunded since the beginning of this year, valued at over $14.7 million in total, according to university documents obtained through a records request. Although a portion of the money has already been spent, most of it—over $9.5 million—will still be lost. 

Most of the grants funded programs that have or would have funded student scholarships, degrees or training. According to the termination notices, the largest lone grant was for $7 million and funded UNF’s Project to Renew the Education Pipeline (Project PREP) program, first reported by Action News Jax in February. However, since then, five other termination notices have come in. 

Each non-continuation or termination notice for the grants included a reference to President Donald Trump’s new agenda to explain why the grant was defunded. Some cited the administration’s changing priorities around Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives, while others referenced a recent executive order to cut federal spending in general.

At least three of the grants were multi-million dollar awards spanning over multiple years to support programs that allowed students to gain on-the-job training and in some cases, be placed in a job after graduation. Another grant awarded in January for nearly $350,000 was entirely lost, according to data provided by a university spokesperson, and would have funded a three-year undergraduate archivist-in-training program. 

According to a university spokesperson, over 150 students have been directly affected by the loss of funding. The following programs or research projects are affected, according university research data and documents:

• Project to Renew the Education Pipeline (Project PREP), Silverfield College of Education and Human Services
  • Original award: $7 million Department of Education grant
  • Amount lost: $4 million
• Recruiting Effective and Compassionate Helpers (Project REACH), Silverfield College of Education and Human Services
  • Original award: $4.7 million Department of Education grant
  • Amount lost: $3.7 million
• Jacksonville Teacher Residency (JTR), Silverfield College of Education and Human Services
  • Original award: $400,000 Americorps subgrant through Volunteer Florida
  • Amount lost: $100,000
• Undergraduate Research Training Initiative for Student Enhancement (U-RISE), College of Arts and Sciences
  • Original award: $1.8 million National Institute of Health (NIH) grant
  • Amount lost: $1.2 million
• Archivist-in-Training Program, College of Arts and Sciences
  • Original award: $340,000 National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant
  • Amount lost: $340,000
• Writing the First Comprehensive Indigenous History of Northeast Florida, College of Arts and Sciences
  • Original award: $572,000 NEH grant
  • Amount lost: $200,000

A university spokesperson explained that faculty and university representatives are pursuing appeal processes for some of the terminated grants. However, the Department of Education has already declined the appeal for the grant that funded Project PREP, according to the spokesperson. The status of other appeals are unknown at this time.

Additionally, the spokesperson confirmed that UNF covered any expenses that the grants would have covered for students for spring and summer.

Madalina Tanase, the president of the United Faculty of Florida at UNF, provided a statement on behalf of the faculty union, noting the importance of grant-funded university research.

“We remain gravely concerned by the ongoing assault on education across the country. At UNF and elsewhere, faculty are deeply committed to providing students with a high-quality education and conducting research that improves the lives of our communities. Gutting our financial resources strikes at the very core of our mission and will have far-reaching disastrous effects. Now is the time for educators and our leaders to stand up and say enough is enough,” Tanase said in a written statement. 

The impact, according to students from one program

Students in the Recruiting Effective and Compassionate Helpers fellowship (Project REACH) were told their master’s degree tuition was paid for and that they’d receive semesterly stipends to help support them during training. But on Friday May 9, that all changed. 

The faculty members who oversee Project REACH sent out an email at 5 p.m. that Friday, notifying everyone in the fellowship that the funding was cut off. This is because the college of education received notice that the $4.7 million grant that funded the program would no longer be available after Dec. 31. 

Unlike the other defunded grants, Project REACH can continue to function as normal through the rest of this year, according to its non-continuation notice. However, this means students who don’t finish their degrees by then will be left without the grant’s funding come Spring 2026. 

Morgan Cutler, 23, graduated with her bachelor’s degree in education at UNF last August, and immediately began working on her master’s in school counseling in the fall. But in Spring 2025, Cutler was selected for a REACH fellowship.

Cutler said she’s grateful to continue receiving stipends and paid tuition through the rest of 2025, but she’s worried about what her financial situation will look like once the money runs out. As a daughter of a public school teacher, Cutler said she’s seen educators “be abused by the system,” and said her future feels uncertain. 

“Politicians don’t care about us,” Cutler said. “If they did care about us, they would want us to keep these grants so we can keep helping these kids.”

Part of the training graduate students receive through Project REACH involves going to local schools and working alongside school counselors on-site. After working on-site for just a short time at a local Duval County high school, Cutler said, she’s seen how impactful the work she loves can be.

“It makes me angry; it makes me confused; like ‘why us?’ We’re just people who want to change lives, but [the government] is taking that away from us,” said Cutler. “If you don’t have counselors and you don’t have teachers, then you don’t have education.”

On top of this, Cutler said graduate students are usually unable to take out federal loans to the same extent as undergraduates, and yet most schools require their school counselors to have at least a master’s degree. Cutler said to finish her degree, she’ll have to ask her mom for money or get another job in addition to the two part-time jobs she already works to pay the bills. Whatever time is left over will be dedicated to her full-time class schedule. 

Another Project REACH student, Kristen Booth, knows this struggle all too well. Booth, 39, is a full-time mother of a 4-year-old son. After teaching in a public school for 13 years, Booth came to UNF to work on her master’s in school counseling because she said she was “burnt out” on the profession, but still loves working with kids. 

Booth runs a cleaning business for extra money and said she is grateful for the Project REACH funding since she just paid off her undergraduate student debt. She said she’s been saving the stipend money she’s received to pay for the future expenses that come with having a second child.

“Having my tuition paid for and getting a stipend was game-changing for me,” Booth said.

After she learned the grant was terminated due to the Trump administration’s cuts to DEI-related funding, Booth said she felt angry, disappointed and sad.

“It just enrages me,” Booth said. “It’s just further evidence that [the Trump administration] doesn’t care about anyone. Kids don’t matter to them; education doesn’t matter to them.”

“I can’t believe 77 million people voted for this. I do think people have been manipulated by Trump,” Booth said. “This is what the outcome is.”

This is a developing story. Spinnaker is working to gather more details about how the grant-funded programs were affected. If you or someone you know have been impacted and would like to share your story, please email editor@unfspinnaker.com. 

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For more information or news tips, or if you see an error in this story or have any compliments or concerns, contact editor@unfspinnaker.com.