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The Harvard Kennedy School will provide a full ride to 50 public servants and military veterans enrolled in its master’s program next fall, school leaders announced on Thursday.
“The American Service Fellowship” will fully fund a one-year master’s degree at the school of government and public policy for the 2026-27 school year. It marks the “largest single-year scholarship program” in the history of the Kennedy School, according to a press release.
“In this moment of political division and major challenges in America, it’s never been a more important time to invest in the next generation of public servants,” said Harvard Kennedy School Dean Jeremy Weinstein in a statement. “There’s nothing more patriotic than public service.”
Philanthropic donations “raised specifically for this fellowship” will fund the scholarships, the school said Thursday, without further elaboration. Students will receive $100,000 to cover tuition, fees and a stipend, according to a Kennedy school spokesman.
The pilot fellowship launches after large swaths of the federal workforce experienced layoffs and career disruptions due to downsizing of multiple government agencies under the Trump administration, including slashing the United States Agency for International Development.
The scholarship will be open to veterans, teachers, government workers, Peace Corps volunteers and others who have served in full-time civil service programs for a total of seven years. School leadership estimates that half the incoming class will come from military backgrounds and hopes to recruit students from all 50 states.
News of the scholarship comes during a period of acute financial strain for the school and Harvard as a whole. The Kennedy School announced layoffs last month, and Harvard President Alan Garber said in a statement this week that the combined impact of the Trump administration’s actions, including the termination of federal grants and contracts and a raised endowment tax from the recently signed reconciliation bill, could mean up to a $1 billion hit to the university’s annual budget.
But the scholarship funds will help the school weather this moment, said Kennedy School Chief Communications Officer Adam Farina.
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“The money that is raised and goes into this program ultimately comes back to the Kennedy School, which allows us to invest in our staff, to invest in other students, to provide more financial aid to other students,” Farina said. “And so this is not, you know, millions of dollars going out the door from Harvard Kennedy School. These are students who are coming to our campus.”
Scholarship recipients will have a chance “to further develop their leadership skills and engage with other students from different backgrounds, viewpoints, and types of service,” the press release stated.
The Trump administration has criticized Harvard for being overly liberal and lacking viewpoint diversity, and unleashed a series of actions after Harvard chose not to comply with its demands.
“Viewpoint diversity has, for a long time, been a top priority for HKS, and we’re proud that our students and speakers and events really reflect the full breadth of the American political spectrum,” Farina said.
Speakers from both sides of the political aisle are invited to the school, Farina added. That includes supporters of President Trump, as well as those who oppose him.
Emily Piper-Vallillo is an education reporter for WBUR.
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