MIT and Boston University Bracing for Cuts in Federal Funding
“We know our faculty and staff will navigate the challenges and continue to provide a high-quality education to our students when this takes effect later this month”
This won’t garner much sympathy from the public, especially as the entire country is hearing about excessive government spending.
WGBH reports:
Boston University, MIT tighten budgets as they brace for federal funding cuts
Colleges and universities nationwide are bracing for potential federal funding cuts and policy changes under the Trump administration. In Massachusetts, at least two schools appear to be tightening their budgets.
Boston University, New England’s largest private university, is requiring approval for all new full- and part-time hires.
“We know our faculty and staff will navigate the challenges and continue to provide a high-quality education to our students when this takes effect later this month,” BU spokesperson Colin Riley said in an email.
The university is also considering limiting off-site events, meetings and discretionary spending.
At MIT, departments are being asked to reduce their dependence on central funding by 5% to 10%. Some faculty tell GBH News their departments are capping graduate admissions. They fear additional cuts if the Republican-led Congress passes an endowment tax targeting wealthy universities like MIT in Democratic-led states.
Federal funding is a large part of research universities’ budgets , so administrators across the country are talking behind closed doors about their financial stability.
Higher education economist Robert Kelchen at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville said those discussions and rumors of further cuts are undermining morale and contributing to burnout.
“All the uncertainty with the Trump administration’s actions and the potential for substantial budget cuts means that colleges are considering doing things like hiring freezes and budget cuts in order to make sure they stay financially stable through this process,” Kelchen said. “If some grants are taken away and other grants see a reduction in indirect cost reimbursement, that money has to come from somewhere — and it’s difficult to take that money out of the classroom.”
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Comments
Economists should stick to economics and stay out of psychology (as per his discussion of morale).
I wonder if this will doom MIT’s recent program promising qualified applicants zero tuition if their families make under $400K/year.
If they had been providing a quality education, as opposed to woke indoctrination, they would not be in so much hot water.
I wonder if the cut of federal funding includes student loans?
Economics illiterate AOC graduated from BU with a degree in economics. BU was also the previous home of race grifter Ibram Henry Rogers who moved his shuck and jive to Howard University.
Just shut it down already.
I’m confused, don’t so many of the big colleges in the NE have billion dollar endowments? Surely the lack of federal money can be easily picked up by using a few million of those endowments?