Range of Factors Spurred Campus Cutbacks in August

"Despite its $10 billion endowment, the private institution is slashing expenses by $100 million, shedding 400 staff jobs and pausing admissions into multiple graduate programs. Chicago president Paul Alivisatos wrote in a statement to faculty that the university's financial woes are twofold, tied to a persistent operating deficit, with expenditures outpacing revenues, combined with the "profound federal policy changes of the last eight months [that] have created multiple and significant new uncertainties and strong downward pressure on our finances." In recent years, UChicago has been squeezed by debt, which has ballooned to more than $6 billion as leadership continued to invest in building projects, prompting critics to question how well administrators have managed the institution's finances."

"The private liberal arts college in Vermont is shutting down the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, across the country in California, officials announced last week. Middlebury president Ian Baucom said the university is winding down graduate programs at the campus over a period of two years. Managing such graduate programs was "no longer feasible," said Baucom, who add"

"For some institutions, belt-tightening measures are directly tied to the economic forces battering the sector as a whole: declining enrollments, rising operating costs and broad economic uncertainty. For others, financial pressure from the Trump administration, which has frozen federal research funding at multiple institutions, prompted cuts. State lawmakers have also forced program reductions at some public institutions."

Multiple colleges and universities have announced job and program cuts driven by declining enrollments, rising operating costs, frozen federal research funding, state-imposed reductions, and broad economic uncertainty. The University of Chicago is implementing $100 million in cuts, eliminating about 400 staff positions and pausing admissions to several graduate programs while citing a persistent operating deficit and recent federal policy changes; the university also carries more than $6 billion in debt after major capital investments. Middlebury College is closing the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey and winding down its graduate programs there over two years, calling continued management infeasible.

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