\n<\/p>\n
Judging from the widespread job and program cuts announced last month, higher education continues to face economic uncertainty on multiple fronts, from declining enrollment to federal funding issues.<\/p>\n
September saw layoffs, program cuts and other budget moves at a mix of institutions. While some of the institutions listed below are regional universities battered by declining enrollment, others are among the nation\u2019s wealthiest; they pointed to federal research funding cuts, soaring endowment taxes and other factors as the impetus for recent cutbacks.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a look at cost-cutting measures announced across the higher ed sector last month.<\/p>\n
One of the nation\u2019s wealthiest universities is laying off hundreds of employees.<\/p>\n
WashU chancellor Andrew Martin announced last month that the private university had cut 316 staff positions and closed another 198 vacant roles as part of an effort to restructure or reduce budgets. He wrote that the cuts, which extend to WashU\u2019s Medical Campus, total \u201cmore than $52\u00a0million in annual savings.\u201d<\/p>\n
The chancellor cited both external and internal pressures. <\/p>\n
\u201cThese include the changing needs of our students, emerging technologies, and innovations in teaching and learning,\u201d Martin wrote. \u201cOthers come from internal decisions and structures that have, over time, created ineffective processes and redundancies in the way we operate. In addition, we\u2019re still facing significant uncertainty about potentially drastic reductions in federal research funding.\u201d <\/p>\n
Uncertainty over federal research funding looms even as the university has lobbied heavily on Capitol Hill. Among individual institutions, WashU has been one of the top spenders on higher education lobbying this year, pumping $540,000 into those efforts across the first two quarters. (Third-quarter lobbying numbers are not yet available.)<\/p>\n
Despite a $12\u00a0billion endowment, WashU follows well-resourced peers, including Johns Hopkins, Northwestern and Stanford Universities, in enacting steep layoffs.<\/p>\n
Squeezed by a budget deficit and reeling from a battle with the Trump administration over allegations of antisemitism that included a temporary federal research funding freeze and ended with the university making concessions, Brown is laying off 48 employees and axing 55 vacant jobs.<\/p>\n
The cost-cutting measure comes after the Ivy League institution in Rhode Island already eliminated \u201capproximately 90 mostly vacant positions\u201d earlier this year, according to an announcement from senior administrators. Following the cuts, Brown is walking back freezes on hiring, travel and discretionary spending.<\/p>\n
Officials announced they plan to monetize \u201cnon-strategic real estate holdings\u201d and pause \u201cspending on plans to move the University to net-zero emissions,\u201d among other efforts, including \u201cprioritizing fundraising for current-use gifts that have an immediate positive budgetary impact.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brown is among the nation\u2019s wealthiest universities, with an endowment valued at $7.2\u00a0billion.<\/p>\n
Grappling with a budget deficit of more than $25\u00a0million, the public flagship announced plans to lay off 60 employees and close another 59 vacant positions, The Oregonian<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n The move comes after the university cut dozens of jobs earlier this year.<\/p>\n \u201cThrough careful consultation with deans, department heads and the University Senate, we were able to substantially close our budget deficit without eliminating any degree programs,\u201d UO senior officials wrote last month. \u201cAnd while we are cutting 20 filled career faculty positions and 14\u00a0unfilled tenure track faculty positions, we are not eliminating any filled tenure track faculty positions.\u201d <\/p>\n College leaders cited \u201crising costs, a dynamic enrollment environment, and shifting national policies\u201d in announcing the layoffs of 70 employees at the storied music school last month.<\/p>\n The layoffs reportedly amount to 3\u00a0percent of the Berklee College of Music workforce and include employees on campuses in Massachusetts, New York and Spain, according to Boston.com. Of the 70 employees laid off, all were staff members and no faculty jobs were cut.<\/p>\n After declaring financial exigency in July, officials finalized a plan at the public university in Ashland to cut $10\u00a0million in operating costs over four years, Jefferson Public Radio reported.<\/p>\n The cuts will reportedly affect 70 faculty and staff jobs, though not all are currently filled. In addition to layoffs and the elimination of vacant jobs, the university also plans to scale back programs by cutting 10 majors\u2014including chemistry and mathematics\u2014and dropping a dozen minors.<\/p>\n The public university in Tucson is cutting 43 jobs after Congress eliminated funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, The Arizona Daily Star<\/em> reported. <\/p>\n The program, known as SNAP-Ed for short, was removed from the federal budget earlier this year. Termination of the program cut off about $6\u00a0million in annual funds to the university to provide education-related services, faculty members told the newspaper.<\/p>\n Arizona\u2019s job cuts come as the university recently managed to zero out a $177\u00a0million deficit that administrators discovered in late 2023, which prompted sweeping cost-cutting measures.<\/p>\n The public university eliminated six jobs and closed the Office of Sustainability and Community Engagement last month as it navigates a $25\u00a0million deficit, The Acadiana Advocate<\/em> reported. <\/p>\n Other offices were restructured.<\/p>\n The newspaper reported that officials have already identified $15\u00a0million in cuts to help close the deficit. Most divisions across the university will be required to reduce operational expenses by 10\u00a0percent.<\/p>\n Following other public institutions in Ohio, CCC is axing 30 associate degree programs in low-enrollment areas, as mandated by Senate Bill\u00a01, which the State Legislature passed earlier this year, Signal Cleveland<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n The cuts, announced last month, include a mix of programs ranging from advanced manufacturing to creative arts. Multiple apprenticeship programs are also being shut down.<\/p>\n Officials at the public university in Greenville announced plans last month to cut $25\u00a0million from the budget amid declining enrollment and other factors, The Triangle Business Journal<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n Belt-tightening measures will be implemented over three years and will include \u201cpermanent reductions, academic program optimization, and organizational adjustments,\u201d ECU officials announced last month. Administrators did not specify the number of potential layoffs ahead.<\/p>\n Increased taxes and federal funding uncertainty are driving cost-cutting measures at the Ivy League university in Connecticut, where officials last month announced retirement incentives to eligible faculty as the university braces for an 8\u00a0percent tax on endowment income. <\/p>\n Yale is one of the few universities with a multibillion-dollar endowment that will feel the tax at its highest level. The increase is a significant jump from the prior endowment tax of 1.4\u00a0percent.<\/p>\n The university is also delaying major construction projects, among other money-saving moves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Judging from the widespread job and program cuts announced last month, higher education continues to face economic uncertainty on multiple fronts, from declining enrollment to federal funding issues. September saw layoffs, program cuts and other budget moves at a mix of institutions. While some of the institutions listed below are regional universities battered by declining<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26869,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[4320,562,1271,3163,11857,3785],"class_list":{"0":"post-26868","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education","8":"tag-campus","9":"tag-cuts","10":"tag-economic","11":"tag-september","12":"tag-spurred","13":"tag-uncertainty"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Berklee College of Music<\/h2>\n
Southern Oregon University<\/h2>\n
University of Arizona<\/h2>\n
University of Louisiana at Lafayette<\/h2>\n
Cuyahoga Community College<\/h2>\n
East Carolina University<\/h2>\n
Yale University<\/h2>\n