Along with its recent executive order intending to close the Department of Education, the Trump Administration has pulled federal financial support for various public and private universities nationwide, causing project cancellations and hiring freezes at some institutions.
It’s not something that Niagara University officials have had to worry about, yet. The private institution had received nearly $13.8 million in federal grants over the past few years to carry out improvements on campus and programs to improve the quality of life in Niagara Falls.
Spokesperson Lisa McMahon said its received federal grants, awarded over a three-year period up to this past January, are still being supported and funded.
“Niagara continues to monitor Federal Guidance and communications with our federal grant liaisons, but so far, we have had little impact on our sponsored programs,” McMahon said. “Additionally, we are continuing to submit for additional federal grants as they become available.”
Recent programs that Niagara University received federal funding for include:
• Jan. 2025: $9.2 million for Niagara Falls Access and Education Project, which would improve public library computer infrastructure and digital literacy training in Niagara Falls.
• March 2024: $1 million for a new “Integrated STEM Center” to house the school’s STEM academic programs.
• July 2023: $1.3 million in an Economic Development Administration grant for workforce training inside the Academic Innovation Hub on Cleveland Ave.
• June 2023: $750,000 for its science research laboratory within the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.
• June 2023: $148,500 from the National Endowment of the Humanities for implementing a Vincentian Social Justice minor program.
• Feb. 2023: $1.4 million for the Academic Innovation Hub on Cleveland Ave.
Last year, Niagara announced its Full Flight Scholarship program, where first-year students who are eligible for the maximum amount, worth $7,395 for the 2025-26 award year, will receive a full-tuition grant. Regular full-time tuition is listed at $38,300 per year.
The Trump administration had announced that federal Pell grants would be among the funding from the Department of Education that would be “preserved in full and redistributed to various other agencies and departments.” Those scholarships would not be impacted, nine Niagara freshmen currently benefiting from this scholarship this academic year.