Since January 20, 2025, the federal government has issued several executive orders that require various federal agencies to review their grants and contracts portfolios and potentially to pause or cease funding on some awards made to institutions like UNM. The details of this process are not yet clear to us, but UNM has received some stop-work orders on a few awards and has seen at least one award canceled, with the expectation that we will see more.

Although some institutions have paused expensing against any award they suspect might be implicated in the federal review, UNM has taken the approach that we will continue to expense against awards unless there is a specific stop-work order for that award. Upon receipt of a stop-work order for a specific award, UNM can no longer expense against that award. An award that is named in a stop-work order might later be restarted by the granting agency, or it might be canceled.

The full impact of this federal review process is unclear at present, but we are concerned about the potential negative impacts on students who may be funded by such awards. It is disruptive for our students to have their paychecks or benefits stopped and started suddenly and unpredictably. Funding will be provided by Academic Affairs as outlined below.

To minimize disruption to our students, if a PI in a central campus unit receives a stop-work order or cancelation of a grant, and if:

1. the stop work order or cancelation was received because of an executive order issued after January 20, 2025 and;
2. if the award provides graduate or undergraduate student support:

• Academic Affairs will provide 50% of the funds necessary to cover that student support from the moment the stop work order is issued until May 31, 2025 or the end of their current contract, whichever comes first, for a graduate assistant, or until May 17, 2025 or the end of their expected work period, whichever comes first, for an undergraduate student. It is the expectation that academic departments or schools/colleges will provide the other 50% of these funds. This support is for salary, benefits, and tuition only, as applicable in each case, and only for legitimate student support expenses that have not already been properly charged to the award before the effective date of any stop work order or award cancelation. This funding is only to replace the funding impacted by the stop work order or award cancelation.
• Students supported with these temporary funds must have appropriate work duties assigned, ideally to pursue research work that is leading to their dissertation, senior thesis, further intellectual development and continued learning, etc. Should that prove impractical, the student’s advisor/supervisor should consult with the department chair to find other appropriate work within their department.
• If the grant that formerly supported such a student is restarted, then this temporary support will be ended on the day the grant is restarted.
• To receive these funds, a representative from the dean’s office of the supported student must apply for the funds with:
• A budget listing the individual students to be supported with details of the outstanding funds needed (salary, benefits, tuition);
• An short outline of the work to be undertaken using these temporary support funds;
• A copy of the stop-work order and a statement from the award PI establishing that the stop-work was issued because of a federal granting agency’s work to comply with an executive order, and;
• The dean’s certification that the other 50% of the support funds will be provided from departmental or college/school level sources.

Note that these funds cannot be used to cover expenses that have already been properly charged against the award, e.g. tuition or benefits that have already been charged to a grant.

This program is meant to provide stability for our students as we navigate the uncertainty in funding occasioned as federal granting agencies manage their enforcement of executive orders. While we expect we will have funds to manage this temporary support, it is difficult to assess the level of need, so support under this program is subject to the availability of funds.

This funding is not meant to support faculty, staff, or postdocs.

Funding is not available under this program for students impacted by the normal ending of a federal award or other reasons not related to federal agency reviews to ensure their grant portfolios are in compliance with recent executive orders.

Please submit additional questions to vpr@unm.edu and Greg Trejo@unm.edu.