After stopping American funding for universities … Lebanese students have a disturbing fate

It seems that stopping American financing to more than one sector will wear a rule over Lebanon and the Lebanese, from all groups.

After the interruption of media and food support, the role of education came, and the last of this was “austerity” to stop the support of American universities, as a decision was recently issued by the US State Department to suspend foreign aid.
It was learned that a number of university students and beneficiaries reported that the grants will stop after about three months.

This decision came at the request of US President Donald Trump, putting thousands of students benefiting in front of a mysterious and disturbing fate.

Which repercussions will be on Lebanese students? Will lift support for American universities prevent students from completing their educational achievement? Are these universities closed their doors to foreigners?

In the recent period, all American embassies reported this decision, which came based on an official directive from Trump, which was confirmed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio a few days ago in an official.

As for a Lebanese, it is related to school scholarships, and perhaps this is the most important thing for Lebanese students who want to continue their academic and university achievement.

Grants stop … and travel
Thus, the grants will stop with travel. After the order to follow up on achievement in major American universities such as Harvard University and others is a difficult dream, today it has become one of the fourth impossible. Indeed, the effects of the American decision also include scholarships for a number of universities, such as the American University of Beirut, Lebanese -American, Haigazian, and the University of Our Lady of Louaizah and others, that is, those that depend on joint financing with the USAID USAID and other American destinations. A number of students of these universities and beneficiaries of the agency program, finally reported via an email that the grants will stop after about three months.

The email text stated that “support for the expenses covered by grants will stop as of the next university semester, that is, university installment, housing coverage and monthly allowance.”

In information from the American University of Beirut, about 500 grants were arrested.
As for the Lebanese -American University, the information indicates that “students informed this decision, and thus 300 to 400 grants were stopped.”

So, the repercussions of the decision became clear to Lebanese students, a decision that will constitute a direct threat to a number of them, especially since the difficult economic conditions made them depend on this type of support to cover the university cost, so what fate will they face?

Many Lebanese students who were benefiting from grants and support do not now know what they will.

The student says. C. Preferably not to be named, he is “more than anxious about the future.”

He is a chemistry student at the American University, telling that there was no previous news or information about stopping support or grants, and therefore “we were not ready, which increased our anxiety and our fear. Now, we do not know what we will do.”
The last financial payment that the students received was for the month of January, after which everything stopped.

According to the “American Agency for International Development”, according to its website, about 16,396 students have benefited from “job preparation programs provided by the agency within the initiative to develop higher education capabilities.” This initiative includes “ten Lebanese universities”.

Two years ago, specifically in the beginning of 2023, a report was issued by the US agency, which announced the allocation of $ 123 million “to support humanitarian and development activities in Lebanon”, and today, Trump’s decisions turned the table on all this support and financing, while foreign students stand, led by the Lebanese in front of an unknown future … amid many concerns.