The U.S. Department of Defense will end sponsorship for graduate students at Princeton and other Ivy League institutions beginning in the 2026–27 academic year, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ’03 announced in a video on social media Friday.
Hegseth said the Pentagon would stop funding active military students’ attendance in graduate programs, fellowships, and certificate programs at dozens of “elite” universities, which he characterized as incompatible with military training priorities.
It is unclear whether currently enrolled active-duty students at Princeton will have their sponsorships canceled for the next academic year. The number of these students attending the University is not public information.
“For decades, the Ivy League and similar institutions have gorged themselves on a trust fund of American taxpayer dollars, only to become factories of anti-American resentment and military disdain,” Hegseth said in the video.
The directive expands on a Feb. 6 announcement similarly targeting Harvard University, which Hegseth had previously threatened to extend to its peer institutions. In the Feb. 6 press release, the Pentagon clarified the nature of the decision about Harvard, stating that it affects “graduate-level professional military education, fellowships and certificate programs” and that “military personnel who are currently attending classes” will be able to finish their current course of study in one of those aforementioned categories.
According to the video, the policy will affect active-duty service members and Defense Department personnel who use DOD Tuition Assistance or are assigned to graduate study programs at civilian universities as part of professional military education. However, graduate programs at the School of Public International Affairs, including the Master in Public Affairs, Master in Public Policy, and Ph.D. are fully funded by the University. Most other master’s programs and all Ph.D. programs at the University are also fully funded.
It remains unclear how the policy will apply to service members currently enrolled at Princeton under DOD sponsorship, or whether they will be permitted to complete their degrees. In the Feb. 6 video, Hegseth said that actively enrolled students would be allowed to finish their course of study at Harvard, “with some exceptions.”
The DOD did not answer calls from The Daily Princetonian. A University spokesperson declined to comment.
The announcement notably did not reference undergraduate military programs such as Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC), nor did it address veterans receiving tuition assistance from the Post-9/11 GI Bill, which is administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs rather than the DOD.
Hegseth served as a cadet in ROTC at the University as an undergraduate.
The ‘Prince’ recently interviewed Raymond DuBois ’72, an alumnus and war veteran, who condemned the initial Feb. 6 threat to end Harvard’s graduate sponsorship with the DOD.
“This policy is going to be damaging to our military, to our defense department, to our national security, and to the schools involved,” DuBois said in the interview, which took place before the expansion of the policy to Princeton was announced.
DuBois, a self-described “traditional Republican,” has held several senior leadership roles in Washington, including as acting Undersecretary of the Army.
“Critical thinking, what the hell has that got to do with wokeness or political bias?” said DuBois. “Hegseth doesn’t even understand, I think, what critical thinking is.”
Nico David-Fox is a head News editor for the ‘Prince.’ He is from Washington, D.C., and often covers academics and the Undergraduate Student Government. He can be reached at ndf[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
Devon Rudolph is the head Podcast editor and a senior News writer. She is from Fairfax, Va. She can be reached at dr7917[at]princeton.edu.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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