Sorry for not replying earlier to everyone's questions. Here are the sources for my information. My kid received a letter from UCSD on Friday, February 21, but the info about resciding the guarantee for funding was hidden in a footnote. On Monday, Feb 24, UCSD sent another email clearly spelling out what this means for students. My kid was disappointed because they'd planned to visit UCSD. My kid quickly accepted UC Berkeley (their first choice). My kid notified two of her advisors (recommenders) at two different universities who told her she did the right thing by accepting. Both advisors were apologetic that this is the state we are in this year. They advised her to notify UCSD that she was not going to visit and why, and she formally declined their offer. The UT-Austin information comes from a faculty member there who forwarded me the information about how they *could* rescind offers or rescind guaranteed funding for those students who had not yet accepted. They advised against rescinding funding guarantees for those students who had already accepted because that is both unethical and probably dicey leagally. Although, you may have read in the news that UPenn (a private ivy-league university) did rescind offers, though I do not know whether they rescinded anyone who had already accepted.
Indirect funding on NIH and NSF grants have been cut from ~55% to 15%. This is huge, and is reverberating throughout university budgets. Indirect costs go to the university as a whole, and this money can be spent on anything the university wants. The hiring freezes you are readling about are also a result of this. This is generally coming from the top of universities and the faculty are often unaware until they are told.
I apologize if anyone was upset by the negativity or strong wording in my first post.
