The University of Chicago will cut $100 million from its annual budget in response to mounting financial pressures and a deficit that reached $288 million in 2024. University leaders announced the reductions Thursday, citing both long-term structural challenges and new uncertainties tied to federal policies.
In a letter to faculty, President Paul Alivisatos acknowledged the institution’s progress over the past two years but warned that the gap between income and expenses remained unsustainable. “Despite important progress that all of you worked so hard to contribute to over the last two years, our annual income still falls short of our expenses. That is not something that we can allow to persist,” he wrote.
Provost Katherine Baicker elaborated on the drivers of the cuts, pointing to “potential federal policy changes that could lead to fewer international students, reduced grant support, reduced Medicaid coverage, increased capital costs, and more—combined with the ongoing need to close our structural deficit.”
The university’s plan spans nearly every aspect of its operations. Faculty hiring will slow by about 30 percent, with most new appointments targeted at the assistant professor level. Graduate education will see significant contraction: the number of university-funded PhD students will be reduced by 30 percent by 2030, with admissions paused next year in more than a dozen humanities and social sciences programs, including anthropology, art history, English, and political economy. Several master’s programs will also suspend admissions for the coming year as the administration reviews smaller programs for financial viability.
Capital projects are another area of retrenchment. Plans for a new engineering and science building have been “substantially” scaled back, with leadership pledging to launch future projects only after securing 75 percent of their funding upfront. At the same time, the university will reduce its unrestricted support for more than 140 centers and institutes by at least 20 percent, a shift that Alivisatos said was overdue. He argued that many centers had “grown and grown over time without sufficient periodic review for redirection or sunsetting.”
Administrative restructuring will continue as well. Leadership roles are being consolidated, some programs will be cut, and staff reductions are expected. Nearly 300 employees accepted early retirement last year, and an additional 100 to 150 departures are anticipated this fall.
Alivisatos sought to frame the reductions as a step toward long-term stability. “Our charge is to ensure that we preserve and even strengthen our rigorous and collaborative research and learning cultures,” he wrote, while acknowledging the “many… whose work and lives are directly affected” by the cuts.
