University Actions and Budget

The University of Chicago reduced its budget deficit by $128 million between FY24 and FY25, according to the year-end financial statement, advancing the University’s plan to balance the budget by the end of the decade despite external headwinds.

The deficit fell from $288 million in FY24 to $160 million in FY25. The $128 million reduction in the deficit outpaced the plan for the year. The improvement is the result of work across the University to moderate spending growth and to grow revenues at a faster pace than expenses. It also reflects high demand from students at every level as well as record-setting philanthropic support for UChicago’s academic mission.

Those figures count only the University portion of the budget and do not include the University of Chicago Medicine, which ran a surplus of $80 million in FY25. Additional granularity on both the University and UCM budgets is available in the financial statement.

During a town hall meeting on May 5, 2026, Provost Baicker and Chief Financial Officer Samstein shared that they expect to further reduce the budget deficit in FY26. The University will share year-end financial statements for FY26 when available.

University leaders are working with deans and faculty to develop budgets and budget strategies that are tailored to the goals of individual schools and divisions, keeping them at the forefront of their ever-evolving fields. These efforts are focused on further developing new and existing revenue sources to support the vital work of the University while maintaining the spending discipline shown across campus.

Key opportunities for tuition revenue growth include expansion of non-degree and executive education offerings, summer term enrollment, and master’s degree programs.

Fundraising success continues to be a priority for the University. During FY25, the University crossed the $1 billion threshold in gifts, with a similar goal for FY26.

Chicago Minds is positioned to strengthen the University’s academic enterprise for generations to come. Philanthropic priorities include support for faculty across disciplines; expanding undergraduate scholarships and graduate student fellowships; and renewing the University’s historic campus. These priorities are designed to further our mission of cultivating the human mind that pursues knowledge at the highest levels, adding resources to sustain enduring excellence.

Non-degree and executive education represents a significant growth opportunity for the University. UChicago Professional has been restructured so that degree programs returned to their home academic units, allowing UCPro to focus on executive and non-degree education offerings with substantial growth opportunities.

The University is actively working to expand summer term enrollment across several populations: Pre-college high school students, students visiting from other universities, and UChicago students who can use summer courses to help fulfill their courses of study. Expanding summer enrollment will make better use of campus facilities—including residence halls—that we currently underutilize during summer months.

While the University is on pace for this goal, unprecedented external challenges have created additional revenue uncertainty, which could extend the deficit reduction timeframe. Despite this uncertainty, the University continues to be on track with the original plan, and the success of efforts to date has put the University in a stronger position.

The University’s endowment ended FY25 at $10.9 billion with a 10.2% overall return on investments, reflecting progress in strategically positioning the University to benefit from future growth opportunities. Additional information about the endowment returns is published here. Returns for FY26 will be shared when available.

Yes, the endowment payout will go down by about 3.3% per share for FY27. The payout is based on a three-year average of the endowment’s value to preserve stability, rather than fluctuating with the market on an annual basis. Payout in recent years has been on the higher end of the University’s normal range to contribute more to operations based on strong returns.

The University’s endowment sustains ongoing scholarly and research operations thanks to generous philanthropy over more than a century. The intentions of those donors are always honored, as dictated by both ethics and law. This means the University cannot simply withdraw restricted funds from the endowment to cover current deficits.

The University took a relatively conservative investment position after the financial crisis of 2008–09, meaning that earnings on the endowment are lower than they would otherwise be during a booming stock market and higher than they would otherwise be during a market downturn. The University had lower returns than some peers with less conservative portfolios during the strong markets of 2010–2021. The investment strategy is continuously evaluated and updated, with the University gradually shifting its portfolio based on evolving market opportunities.

Contrary to a claim in one news report, the University of Chicago has not lost money on cryptocurrency investments. The University's relatively modest investment in cryptocurrency has increased in value over the last five years. The University’s investment goal is to supply a steady source of income to help support University programs over the long term, to safeguard the future of the University.

No. The University continues to hire new faculty, focusing on hiring in strategic areas and on assistant professors. Since the University has hired aggressively in the last decade—growing the faculty size by 20% in that period—the intention is to hold steady at this faculty size overall for the near term, which means slowing hiring from the growth rate of recent years.

University-wide efforts to reduce faculty administrative responsibilities will help ensure that faculty can dedicate time to the core teaching and research functions that are the priority for all faculty at the University.

The University is committed to maintaining small average class sizes and student interactions with tenure-track faculty. The University has maintained an average class size of 18 students for the last 15 years. Similarly, the College’s low student-faculty ratio of five undergraduate students per faculty member has been stable for most of the last decade and is a reduction from six undergraduate students per faculty member in 2010. Leveraging the enhanced faculty size and reducing administrative burden for faculty will help ensure that class sizes and student-faculty ratios remain at levels that support a transformative educational experience.

Doctoral education is central to the University’s mission. During summer 2025, all units were asked to develop strategic plans for their PhD programs. Some academic divisions paused admissions for some or all of their programs for the 2026-27 academic year and charged committees to evaluate and offer recommendations on how to strengthen their doctoral programs. The landscape for many programs is evolving significantly in the face of rapidly changing job markets and the rising cost of doctoral education. It is important that the University ensures these programs are serving students well and doing so in a sustainable way.

The University’s overall spending on doctoral education has increased in recent years, including an increase in the minimal doctoral stipend to $46,350, plus University-paid health insurance, for the 2025-26 academic year.

The list of PhD programs that paused admissions for this academic year includes: Anthropology, Art History, Cinema and Media Studies, Classics, Comparative Literature, Conceptual and Historical Studies of Science, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, English Language and Literature, Germanic Studies, Linguistics, Middle Eastern Studies, Political Economy, Public Policy, Romance Languages and Literatures, Slavic Languages and Literatures, Social Thought, Social Work, South Asian Languages and Civilizations, Theater and Performance Studies.

Most other programs—including those in science units—reduced the number of students admitted for the 2026-27 academic year.

The University remains committed to doctoral education as a foundational part of its mission. Departments that paused graduate admissions for the 2026-27 academic year did so only for one year. Academic deans, department chairs, and program leaders continue to work with their faculty to ensure the long-term excellence and vitality of their degree programs.

This announcement is an affirmation of the University’s core belief that costs should not prevent a student from joining UChicago’s community of extraordinary students. This announcement is an example of the University’s academic mission being the most important factor in our decision-making. That said, the University is well positioned to absorb the additional cost of this announcement through a combination of existing revenue sources and record-breaking philanthropy.

Yes, gradually over time. Year after year, demand for admission to the College has grown, reflecting the exceptional College experience for students who cherish knowledge, welcome rigor, and who are deeply curious. Growing the college over time has allowed more talented students to benefit from this distinctive academic experience while strengthening the University’s educational mission. There is an opportunity to build on that history by returning to the measured growth of the decades before the pandemic — enriching curricular and co-curricular offerings and expanding academic opportunities for students, including additional programs, study abroad offerings, and student support.

Any growth in the student body would be predicated on having the faculty to maintain small classes and low student-faculty ratio, as well as being able to offer a diverse set of courses in a vast range of fields. Additionally, the University would need to ensure the proper facilities, residence halls, classrooms, and staff to support a growing student body.

No. Tuition does not cover the full cost of education: the University spends more than 100% of tuition revenue on education. UChicago’s financial report for 2024-25 shows that the University took in about $686 million in tuition and fees (net of financial aid), while paying $923 million in academic salaries and benefits alone, which are only a part of the costs of students’ educational experience.

Deficit reduction actions have affected virtually every part of the University. The work of the Arts & Humanities is essential to the University, but it does not pay for itself: the University substantially subsidizes these departments. As at every major research university, the net cost of supporting arts and humanities fields is substantial because faculty compensation and research, PhD education, and related activities require resources while generating relatively limited external support. PhD students receive stipends and do not pay tuition, and undergraduate tuition does not cover these expenses. UChicago invests in these fields because they are vital to the academic mission, and will continue to do so.

The University has already implemented personnel actions in previous fiscal years, including a voluntary staff retirement plan and focused layoffs, and is not planning further University-level actions. Individual unit leaders will continue to have the flexibility to use their budgets in ways that are most effective in achieving their goals.

No. Staff are a critical part of the University’s long-range objectives, and units should hire staff as needed to support priority programming and growth efforts consistent with their budgets. The University’s FY27 budget includes latitude for units to implement merit increases.

No. The voluntary retirement program in 2024 was successful, and no additional offering is anticipated.

Addressing capital renewal is a priority of current fundraising efforts.As the core teaching, research, and student life space on campus, the central quad embodies the University of Chicago’s mission of providing a transformative education and advancing field-defining research. Renewing these spaces will ensure they continue to remain a vibrant core of the University’s activities. The scale of this is quite large—an estimated $2 billion in deferred maintenance needs, the majority of which is concentrated in historic buildings on the central quad—so it will take time to address, but there will be enormous benefits for the entire University. A full renovation of a building generally addresses all outstanding deferred maintenance issues at once, making comprehensive overhauls supported by donor investment an effective path forward.

Yes. Centers and Institutes are a vital means to achieving the University’s scholarly and educational goals, often spanning disciplines and academic units and drawing together populations inside and outside the University community. But ensuring that each is financially sustainable while still being able to seed new efforts means that central unrestricted support for any one may not be able to continue indefinitely. Over the coming years, the University expects to reduce the unrestricted funding provided to existing centers and institutes by at least 20%. There will also be regular reviews of centers and institutes by academic unit leaders to assess their ongoing contributions to their scholarly and educational missions. Established centers and institutes will bear a greater responsibility for securing additional support through grants, gifts, or other revenue sources, helping ensure their long-term sustainability and continued impact, while ensuring that seed funding is available for new endeavors.

The medical system is engaged in related but distinct planning efforts to strengthen the ability of UChicago Medicine (UCMC) to advance discovery, medical education, clinical innovation, and transformative health care.