On campuses across New England and the country, a majority of chief business officers say they’re bracing for instability. Just 43% expect their institutions to be in better financial shape a year from now — down from 56% last year — according to the latest Survey of College and University Chief Business Officers, released today.
Enrollment declines, inflation and market shifts have long challenged American colleges. But this year, federal policy changes are compounding their stress, disrupting university research funding, slashing student aid, taxing large endowments and chilling international student enrollment.
“Chief business officers like certainty,” said Kara Freeman, president and CEO of the National Association of College and University Business Officers. “And right now they’re not getting it.”
Freeman said many schools are budgeting month-to-month instead of year-to-year — a major shift for institutions built on long-term planning. Smaller private colleges, public regionals, HBCUs and community colleges are feeling it the most, but even wealthy schools are feeling the pinch.
Harvard has announced a hiring freeze as the Trump administration has frozen billions in research funding. Schools from the University of Arizona to the University of Houston are pausing new construction projects. The University of Kansas and other schools have cut travel costs.
Still, Freeman sees room for reinvention. Nearly 60% of CBOs rate their institution’s financial health as good or excellent. And she believes the moment offers opportunity.
“I think that there’s ways for institutions to pivot to their advantage, designing programs to meet the needs of those students who have some college and no degree,” she said.
Today, more than 43 million Americans fall into that category.
Robert Kelchen, a professor of higher education at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, said the industry is already in a recession, so administrators will need to move fast.
“We’re seeing pressure on any federal funding, whether it’s research funding or potentially even financial aid for students,” he said. “We’re also seeing the possibility that international students will not be able to come to the United States.”
If the current trends continue, Kelchen said, colleges could be headed not just for a recession but a full-blown higher education depression.
Produced with assistance from the Public Media Journalists Association Editor Corps funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.
