Numerous public universities are closing out the spring term with hiring freezes, layoffs and structural cuts as leaders confront budget shortfalls.
Last week, the University of Oregon announced that it has frozen hiring and pay increases while it works to close a projected $65 million structural deficit, largely tied to lower out-of-state enrollment and tuition revenue.
These actions reflect a “changing reality across higher education” as universities wrestle with enrollment declines, state funding reductions, rising costs and uncertainty in federal research funding and other factors, President Karl Scholz said.
Further decisions to curb the university’s deficit will be announced over the next six months.
“These dynamics are not affecting just the University of Oregon,” Scholz added.
Another Oregon university announced more sweeping measures the same day. Portland State University proposed eliminating 52 faculty and staff members and two academic departments as it works to close a $35 million budget gap. Twelve tenured faculty members will be targeted in the cuts, Willamette Week reports.
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Leaders are also leaving dozens of vacant positions unfilled and restructuring academic offerings, acknowledging that the university will likely emerge smaller.
The Colorado State University System has taken similar steps. On May 7, leaders announced the university will not fill vacant positions and eliminate 0.5% of its workforce to trim $35.8 million from its budget. Officials also approved a 3.5% increase in undergraduate tuition.
Two Maryland-based universities are also moving directly into layoffs. Bowie State University, the state’s oldest HBCU, is cutting 79 positions to close an $18 million deficit.
The University of Maryland, College Park, imposed a hiring freeze last month and is preparing to eliminate up to 150 positions as it absorbs a more than 10% drop in state support alongside rising costs and uncertainty in federal research funding.
Lastly, Kent State University is preparing to lay off up to 45 staff members to address an anticipated $18 million shortfall in its next fiscal year budget. The institution has cut expenses annually for years as birth rates in Ohio have trended downward, Kent State University President Todd Diacon said in a campus address, WVXU reports.
As public universities face sustained financial pressure, some small private universities are confronting more existential threats. Oakland City University in Indiana has suspended all undergraduate programs. Yesterday’s announcement follows an April memo informing state officials that the Christian-based university would lay off 167 employees by June 1.
