The longstanding CyberCorps program is at a crossroads, as scholars struggle to find internships, jobs and support during the Trump administration’s governmentwide hiring freeze.
The CyberCorps: Scholarship for Service program is funded by the National Science Foundation and administered through the Office of Personnel Management. The program provides scholarships for up to three years to support an undergraduate or graduate student. In return, CyberCorps students agree to serve in government for a period of time equal to their scholarship.
The program has provided federal agencies with a steady pipeline of much-needed cyber talent since it was established in 2000.
But this year, CyberCorps scholars are struggling to find any open opportunities after the Trump administration instituted a governmentwide hiring freeze for most positions in February. The White House recently extended that freeze indefinitely.
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Some CyberCorps scholars had received tentative job or internship offers that were revoked or paused with little explanation. Cyber-related opportunities at federal agencies have largely dried up, especially for entry-level positions, amid the hiring freeze and downsizing at agencies like the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Several students are now staring down the possibility of having to pay back their scholarships if they can’t find qualified work. CyberCorps participants are typically required to start a qualifying job within 18 months of graduating.
More than 250 current students and CyberCorps alumni have now organized to share information and press the administration for more information on the future of the program and their job prospects, according to multiple scholars involved in the group. Multiple scholars said that OPM has had little communication with them about the major changes in the federal hiring landscape.
“Many scholars feel we are being strongly armed into unwillingly owing the government hundreds of thousands of dollars for failing to find work with them, when the government is the one cutting jobs, slashing budgets, and eliminating roles we were intended to fill,” one student told Federal News Network.
In a statement, OPM Director Scott Kupor said “bringing top cybersecurity and AI talent into the federal government are critical to our national security.”
“OPM is committed to the success of SFS and is working closely with the National Science Foundation to ensure CyberCorps participants are supported during this challenging time,” Kupor said. “Once the shutdown ends, we will issue guidance to agencies encouraging them to fully leverage the program to bring these highly skilled professionals into public service.”
A spokeswoman for OPM added that “no scholars have been sent to repayment.”
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“After the shutdown ends, OPM will collaborate with NSF on a mass deferment to give graduates more time to secure qualifying positions and further guidance to encourage agencies to make use of the SFS program for their hiring needs,” the spokeswoman said.
But CyberCorps scholars say they have a lot of questions about the plan for deferring their post-scholarship employment requirements, given that few federal jobs are available beyond those geared toward immigration enforcement and other Trump administration priorities.
Federal News Network spoke with five CyberCorps scholars about their experience with the program and the challenges they’ve encountered this year. They were granted anonymity because they fear retaliation for speaking out.
Scholar 1 is graduating with a master’s degree in 2026; Scholar 2 is graduating with a bachelor’s degree in December 2025; Scholar 3 is graduating with a master’s degree in December 2025; Scholar 4 graduated in May 2024 with a cybersecurity degree; and Scholar 5 is graduating with a master’s degree in August 2026.
(These conversations were edited for length and clarity.)
FNN: Why did you join CyberCorps, and what do you hope to do as far as government service?
Scholar 1: “The principal investigator of CyberCorps at my school told me about CyberCorps while I was finishing my undergrad degree. I wanted to pursue cybersecurity and data privacy. My PI pitched it to me as, get a free degree and get excellent work experience, and actually do stuff I think is valuable, rather than just working in industry. . . .
I wanted to work with CISA. I’m really interested in critical infrastructure and passionate about securing rural infrastructure, making people conscious of cybersecurity and how it affects them.”
Scholar 2: “I have experience working with the government. I served in the Air National Guard in a technical role. . . . I also had the opportunity to work in an internship with the federal government, and that’s when I discovered programs like CyberCorps.
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Having that familiarity with the hands-on experience inspires me and encourages me to keep learning . . . I’m not specifically interested in any particular agency, but anywhere there’s an opportunity in the federal government . . . more or less keeping the bad guys out. I view it as a puzzle.”
Scholar 3: “I chose my entire university based on this scholarship. . . . I’ve been looking for ways to break into cybersecurity for a few years. The CyberCorps program was heavily recommended online. And I also had relatives who worked in government. I just wanted to give back to my community.
I worked an internship at CISA in the summer of 2024. . . . I wanted to work at CISA. I had verbal offers to come back. In my internship, I got full marks. . . . I wanted to find work in protecting critical infrastructure and just wanted to serve my country.”
Scholar 4: “For me it was a chance to serve my country outside of active duty service. I was consistently encouraged to apply by another military-affiliated student. . . I did research while I was in the program. I’m interested in secure software engineering and embedded systems security. I appreciate the ability to blend two different fields together.
I went in with the mindset of, I’m going to be open to all the possibilities that are coming my way. I didn’t want to pigeonhole myself with a specific agency. I wanted to get an interview with an agency and see how their culture worked. I was open to computer science roles, as well as cybersecurity roles.”
Scholar 5: “Initially, I had entered college with medical school in mind. . . . Ultimately, I was able to finish a bachelor’s in computer science, and helping people was still at the forefront of my mind. At the end of the day, that’s why I joined CyberCorps – I thought it would be a gateway to a fulfilling, lifelong career in public service.
I’ve had my eyes set on a position with the Air Force Civilian Service. To me, there isn’t a job in this field that would be more meaningful than working alongside our troops to protect American interests.”
FNN: What challenges have you encountered with the CyberCorps program over the past year?
Scholar 1: “I had interviews with CISA and MITRE for internships. . . Everything was looking fantastic from my perspective. This all happened prior to the January 2025 job fair. That was the first week of January, right before the inauguration.
Afterward, there was no contact. Most of my applications and things I had applied for, they still say it’s in processing or being reviewed. They haven’t been rejected. They’ve been permanently paused.”
OPM in a recent email told CyberCorps scholars to “get creative” with their job search.
Scholar 1: “The NSF doesn’t really communicate. It’s mostly through OPM – they just said keep trying, keep looking. They’ve even encouraged us to look out for non-federal agencies. In the ‘get creative’ email, they specifically say to widen our search to state and local governments and nonprofits, when just months prior, they were all but forbidding us from doing that.”
Scholar 2: “Everybody is suffering, because not only are there barely any jobs … but if there are any, we now have to compete with people who are displaced from the shutdown or got let go. All that has made it hard.
It’s very sad to me, because when people are curious about this program, I’m telling them to not do it, because I don’t want to feel like I’m screwing them over by having them sign a contract and then if they can’t find a job, they’re on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt.”
Scholar 3: “Getting any kind of response at all has been difficult, even before the government shutdown. When the hiring freeze went into action, the 250 to 300 of us now in same situation couldn’t get any responses. We were emailing OPM and SFS – we either got no response, or a response that said, ‘get scrappy.’
I got two tentative offers. I had the first offer come in just before the freeze, and I accepted it. When freeze started, my would-be supervisor at CISA said, ‘Hey, hold on.’ . . . But then the supervisor told me they were probably leaving CISA. The other offer was with another agency. That tentative offer is still there, for an internship last summer.”
Scholar 4: “I had been proactive in securing two tentative job offers before I graduated. I made my choice and got started on the clearance process as soon as I could. . . . I kept checking in with the agency for updates. When I asked for guidance on the timeline with OPM, they told me it could take up to a year. . . . I was told by sponsoring agency that they wouldn’t send a firm job offer or interim until my clearance was fully determined.
Around January of this year, they ceased all communications with me.”
Scholar 5: “Communication has been infrequent, lackluster and untimely. . . . Historically, OPM has not allowed private internships to count towards our summer internship requirement. They decided to bend the rules this summer. Sounds great, but my cohort wasn’t informed until late spring. By that time, it was entirely too late to secure an internship with a private company for that summer.”
FNN: How have those challenges changed your career outlook and view of public service? And with OPM recently announcing plans for a ‘mass deferment’ of SFS deadlines, what questions or concerns do you continue to have about the future of CyberCorps and your prospects for finding approved work after graduation?
Scholar 1: “We appreciate the rapid response, especially in light of the shutdown, and are thankful for the first piece of substantial information that’s come out of the SFS office in months. Although we are grateful for the acknowledgement from OPM, their statement has still left hundreds of people concerned about their future. Post-shutdown deferments will do little to help our situation – our biggest blocker is the crusade against federal hiring and public sector cybersecurity overall. We have legitimate concerns and reservations, that are validated by the lack of communication and support that’s been received over the past ten months. Thank you for the response. Please, let’s keep this conversation going.”
Scholar 2: “We would be more comfortable if there were more flexibility. There are a lot more opportunities working the same role, but as a private contractor working for the government. In the past, they’d say no, you can’t be a private contractor. They’d want you to be a federal employee. But with the job freeze, it feels like that’s the only way.
If there are no jobs, they’re not upholding their end of the contract. . . The general consensus is that there needs to be more transparency. We just want to have a simple conversation with OPM to see what they can do, not just with the deferment but with flexibility.”
Scholar 3: “We should be doing everything we can to encourage and attract talent. I’ve met some of the smartest people I had ever met in my life through this program, who don’t know what to do and are looking at going private rather than doing what they originally intended.”
Federal job applications now include essay questions asking how candidates would “advance the President’s executive orders and policy priorities.” Federal employee unions are now suing the Trump administration over those questions.
Scholar 3: “I used to say I don’t care what administration I serve. I wanted to serve my neighbors. But these questions aren’t framed around serving the country. It’s serving a person.
I saw one role I wanted to apply to two weeks ago. When I saw those loyalty questions, I sat there and thought, I don’t have the ability to go through this right now. I didn’t want to put that on my plate.”
Scholar 4: “The first question a lot of us would have is, what’s the time frame? How much time are they actually allotting us? Even if we’re given additional time, if I can’t get a clearance or we get another freeze and they’re not able to process that, it further puts a halt on this process, and I’m left in the same situation.
Even once you secure a job, you have to maintain the job. That goes for a new hire when you’re in the probation period, assuming you don’t get laid off then. I think it just puts additional stress and strain on us mentally.
I don’t think people are considering that factor and OPM hasn’t provided any true reassurance.”
Scholar 5: “I have now started the process of commissioning as an officer with the Navy. My family worries that I’m choosing this path because I feel like I have no other way out — and truthfully, it’s hard for me to parse through my own thoughts on the matter; however, I am choosing to remain excited about the prospect.”
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