After losing AUC scholarships to USAID cuts, over 100 students invited to study at other private universities

Over 120 students who lost access to scholarships to study at American University in Cairo (AUC) due to the sudden suspension of foreign aid from the US in January were informed on Sunday that they will be transferred to other private universities.

Students began to receive emails on Sunday afternoon informing them which universities they will be transferred to, according to a scholarship student who spoke to Mada Masr, preferring to remain anonymous.

The students waited for several weeks without clarity regarding their academic futures after scholarships they had won from the United States Agency for International Development  (USAID) were suddenly suspended by an executive order issued by US President Donald Trump last month.

Egypt’s Higher Education Ministry and other universities stepped in to support USAID scholarship students enrolled elsewhere in the country, while AUC supported students who enrolled in 2024. 

But over 120 students in the new cohort of AUC students waiting to enroll in 2025 were left in limbo until Saturday, when the Higher Education minister announced that alternative scholarships would be provided by private universities in Egypt. 

Of the new cohort, the funding cut affected around 56 students who were joining AUC to begin programs in the spring semester, and another 60 students who were taking English courses during a bridge year at the AUC before they would enroll fulltime for their chosen courses at AUC or elsewhere.

According to the ministry’s Sunday decision, the spring semester students will receive alternative scholarships to private universities, including foreign universities at the new administrative capital, European and Canadian universities in Egypt, as well as the German University in Cairo and the British University in Egypt. 

Some of the spring semester students received emails, which Mada Masr reviewed, informing them that the University of Prince Edward in Cairo had nominated them to receive scholarships, adding that they should complete the required documents for enrollment by Monday morning. 

The 66 students who were taking the bridge year to study English in preparation for their acceptance at AUC in the upcoming academic year will also receive scholarships that will support them to enroll in the new academic year, the ministry's Saturday statement said.

The scholarship student, who was part of the bridge year, expressed frustration that bridge year students have to wait until the new academic year to resume their studies.

The student also noted that another three AUC students impacted by scholarship freeze were offered immediate financing by businessmen after news of the funding cut broke, but are now in a precarious position since the offers were only temporary.

The three students had shared their stories on social media platforms, he explained, and were contacted by private businessmen who said they would cover fees for the students — but only for the coming 90 days.

The funding suspension in the US was imposed for an initial 90-day review period, after which the fate of USAID remains unclear.

Speaking to Mada Masr on Sunday, the bridge year student said that these three students had returned to their studies at AUC over the past weeks but could find themselves without scholarships later in the year.

The 122 students joining AUC in 2025 were among over 2,000 higher education students in Egypt who were studying on USAID scholarships during the 2024/25 academic year at 10 universities across the country, some public and some private.

Shortly after the USAID funding freeze, the Higher Education Ministry announced that tuition fees would be covered for over 2,000 of the students at public and private universities nationwide, while around 200 USAID students enrolled at AUC, which falls in a separate administrative category, would have their fees paid by the American university. 

From its side, the AUC Student Union specified that tuition, dorm fees and stipends will be fully covered only for currently enrolled USAID and Tomorrow Leaders grant students.

The union added at the time that the situation of the remaining students, the 120 young people on the bridge year or starting in the spring semester, was still being discussed and said that it does not have the resources to cover tuition fees for these two cohorts. 

The students nationwide were impacted by the sudden enforcement in January of an immediate 90-day pause on US developmental financing, one of several inaugural decisions executed by Trump. 

In the US, a federal judge temporarily blocked Trump’s executive order to freeze foreign aid on Friday after two lawsuits were filed, one by the USAID-funded AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition and Journalism Development Network, while the other was filed by a coalition of lawyers’ associations, global health and international business groups.

The lawsuits both argued that Trump’s order violated the constitutional and administrative rules.

Yet the judge declined the complainants’ request to halt the US administration’s review of USAID programs and rejected their request to stop the US from modifying or terminating contracts given that such measures were allowed by the terms of the agreements.

Aside from the students, projects receiving development funding worldwide have been affected, including sectors in Egypt ranging from school education to family.

This report was edited for Mada Masr by Emma Scolding.