In response to the U.S. Department of Defense decision to end its support for graduate-level programs at Harvard for members of the military, Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) has announced contingency plans for affected applicants in a March 4 letter from Dean Jeremy Weinstein.
Active-duty service members who are admitted to an HKS graduate program for the 2026-2027 academic year will have the option to defer admissions or receive expedited consideration at peer institutions, Weinstein wrote in a letter to prospective students on Wednesday.
“We are aware of the recent announcement from the Pentagon that discontinues graduate school enrollment at Harvard for active-duty service members,” Weinstein wrote. “I’m writing to share some information about how we are prepared to support you if you are impacted.”
HKS has historically enrolled hundreds of active-duty service members, reservists, and veterans and provided a host of funding opportunities, including a new fellowship unveiled in July. On February 6, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, M.P.P.’13, said that his department will discontinue all Harvard “graduate-level professional military education, fellowships, and certificate programs” for active-duty service members and accused the University of fostering “hate-America activism.” In a subsequent February 27 memo to senior Pentagon leadership, Hegseth eliminated “certain Senior Service College (SSC) fellowship programs for the 2026-2027 academic year and beyond” at Harvard and 21 other institutions, including Yale, Princeton, and Brown.
It is not clear at this time which Harvard programs Hegseth’s February 6 order might affect. When asked by The New York Times to clarify this week, a defense department spokesperson cited language from Hegseth’s initial video announcement posted on X on February 6, which did not name specific Harvard programs or fellowships. Weinstein’s letter was sent to all active-duty service members currently awaiting their HKS admissions decisions, which are due to be shared later this month.
“If you are admitted to HKS, our sincere hope is that you will be able to join us,” Weinstein said. He added, “We are fully committed to making sure you get the education you deserve—even if you cannot get it at HKS.”
Under HKS’s contingency plan, the school will allow admitted active-duty military students to defer their admissions for up to four years. Typically, HKS only grants one-year deferrals in a “very limited number of circumstances,” Weinstein said, but “we hope that this extended deferral opportunity will make it possible for you to come to HKS to study later if you can’t make it now.”
Alternatively, these admitted students can opt to receive “expedited consideration” from four peer institutions that have agreed to collaborate with HKS: the Harris School at the University of Chicago; the Fletcher School at Tufts University; the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin; and the Gerald B. Ford School at the University of Michigan.
“We are honored to have taught and learned alongside thousands of active-duty students since our founding,” Weinstein wrote in the March 4 letter, “and we are grateful for the important perspectives and experiences that service members bring to our classrooms and our community. Active-duty service members like you are a vital part of Harvard Kennedy School and always will be.”
