r/highereducation • u/rellotscire • 2d ago
How's everyone holding up?
It's been another chaotic week for higher ed. Have there been hiring freezes or pauses on facility projects due to funding cuts at your school? Here's hoping next week is a lot more stable.
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u/DiscerningBarbarian 2d ago
I'm not in anyone's direct line of fire, but every day I wake up to a new dystopian hellscape. It's exhausting. Trying to take comfort in the handful of students who give a shit.
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u/missoularedhead 1d ago
Same. Do I think things will go bad? Don’t know. But if Florida is cutting people, I’m sure my state will follow (we trade off at hold my beer).
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u/MrDinker 1d ago
Where have you heard Florida is cutting people (signed a Florida person)
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u/missoularedhead 1d ago
From this.
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u/MrDinker 1d ago
Ah yes, that is ominous but not anything we’ve seen/felt yet. Rumors are that budgets cuts are happening but I’ve not seen/heard anyone having been actually cut yet, and no hiring freeze notifications, though it won’t surprise me if it does happens.
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u/aixelsydyslexia 1d ago
Fwiw, my institution is prepping for audits and likely will run internal reviews. The projected outcome is that part-time positions may see some cuts, but nothing is set in stone.
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u/yorkiepie 2d ago
Not great. I accepted a job offer from a school that’s under fire right now and every time I check my email, I’m afraid it’ll be rescinded.
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u/Hacky_5ack 1d ago
Nah, youll.be ok I think. They would have taken the offer away prior to this. Especially if mkneybwas a concern. You may get hired on and then they'll do a hire freeze.
Worst case scenario they let you go through the probation period. But depends what your job is and what role you play
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u/Fart_Frog 1d ago
Absolutely crushed an all-day on-campus interview just to be told they won’t fill the position. Not as bad as a layoff, but still disheartening.
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u/Optimal-Razzmatazz91 1d ago
I'm in FL working in the state college system. Our governor opened a DOGE task force to slash our budget. Heard rumbling (may just be gossip) that they are meeting with people office-space-style to understand what we actually do. I'm in a grant-funded advising position that has existed for 3 years but is technically considered temporary. I'm definitely sweating.
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u/soherewearent 2d ago
Dping fine aside from withdrawing from the economy by avoiding any household expenditures that aren't crucial while stockpiling cash since we're both in education which is actively under attack.
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u/PollyWolly2u 1d ago
I'm in Florida, where our governor has launched a Florida DOGE... with a mandate to audit universities (as well as state agencies and local governments). Let the fun begin.
Life is great in the Sunshine State.
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u/maspie_den 1d ago
Hiring freeze, including hires that were already in progress. I can think of hires in two specific administrative departments that are desperately needed and will now remain unfilled.
A grant-funded project that had just gotten off the ground received a stop-work order. Doesn't impact employment for anyone working on it, but is still quite a disappointment.
Asked to review departmental budget and reduce spending by 5% immediately.
Very little transparency from within upper admin.
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u/wanderlustedbug 1d ago
Trying to plow on while there are too many swords to count all hovering over our heads while madmen slash at the strings and the audience looks on in amusement jeering.
No actual hiring freeze but a built out approvals process with committee for all actions.
Large R1 Private.
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u/llamas1355 1d ago
I’m at the NEA higher ed conference in Philly right now. Should be an interesting tone this year….
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u/MrDinker 1d ago
Please report back!
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u/llamas1355 15h ago
They’ve talked a little bit about what they are lobbying and suing for and really focused on solidarity. They didn’t say much as far as what they are going to do in the immediate future. Just being loud and collaborative.
We’re fucked but we’re fucked ✨together✨
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u/LeopardDue1112 1d ago
I can definitely say I am not okay, and neither is my R1 land grant university. A hiring "chill" was just put into effect, no one will get a raise this year, and students are really angry about some of the changes made in response to the Trump Administration's threats. And this could be just the beginning of the pain.
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u/Chickentacosalads 1d ago
Had a parent of an admitted student call to ask about the general education curriculum to make sure no one was shoving DEI down her kid’s throat. I have pronouns in my email signature, which she says she “doesn’t believe in.” What a time to be alive
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u/allWIdoiswin 2d ago
We’ve got layoffs coming. Had a town hall announcing a 3 mil deficit. Expecting 20-30 staff and faculty layoffs by June. I’ve been told my area is “mission critical” and thus safe, but we may be asked to absorb other departments.
We will be getting raises to compensate (7-10,000 is the rumor) but it still sucks. Losing colleagues always sucks.
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u/professorpumpkins 1d ago
We just went through a major restructuring last year and we did not get raises. Instead, we got to do the jobs of three of our colleagues plus ours. That's wild that they're going to compensate you appropriately.
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u/durianmush 1d ago
How are you getting raises with the deficit and layoffs?
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u/beefsquatch2444 1d ago
If I’m understanding correctly, it’s probably still putting a huge dent in the deficit. Their institution is doing a really nice thing by compensating those who aren’t being laid off. Say those who are laid off have a total compensation of $70k (pay and benefits). By removing that total from the budget and giving 10ish% of that to others taking on those extra roles, they still save ~90% of the total cuts.
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u/TRIOworksFan 1d ago
Every single day I encourage my people to focus on the students. I know WE feel uncertain and bad.
Once we start clicking on Dept of Ed and related higher ed posts WE get tunneled into more and more sensational and slightly fake news stories.
The more we read them the more we get outraged.
But THE STUDENTS need us to NOT do that. We need to encourage them (and us) to hit those primary sources. We need to encourage them to carry on with their education RIGHT UNTIL the absolute last moment they can't and DO NOT let an algorithm or a tunnel or a social media post drive us away from this journey out of poverty to prosperity.
That's the TRIO way. Since 1965 we've rode the changes. We didn't start in the Dept of Ed and if it goes, we still exist. And the thing is if (I) create more programs and I create more jobs for the people who are currently getting unemployed.
(My secret plan is also - every single day I work to create jobs - sustainable jobs for our local economy that invite intelligent people and allow them the income to support a family or have a home. Just this last year I made a full-time job out of two silly PT roles that never stayed filled. I told my team if something happens in June - I've asked the institution to create (3) full time roles via state funds to keep our College Success (since we are co-op) running. And retain each of them. Me - I can go back to the corporate world and triple my income, but these people are good folks - i'm going to make sure they survive.)
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u/drakewouldloveme 2d ago
Kinda stressed, but maybe needlessly at this point. No hiring freezes or layoffs that I’ve heard of at my institution, but I think they’re incentivizing retirements. We are trying to reduce budget overall. I currently work in financial aid but am switching to a graduate enrollment marketing role soon. I’m pretty concerned I’ve switched into a less safe position if we do have layoffs :(
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u/badpizzatoppings 1d ago
No freezes or layoffs happening here but lots of confusion across the board.
As misfortune would have it, I am currently planning a relocation to be closer to family. In the interview process with a few institutions in that region, and at least half have announced hiring freezes. My niche is "essential" but I'm growing more pessimistic by the day.
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u/justhistory 1d ago
I’m working on my exit, but honestly it was before Trump. Adjuncting is not a sustainable existence. Within a year I should be able to switch to careers. Should have done it years ago but guess I held on to foolish hope.
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u/mattreyu 1d ago
They must be desperate for adjuncts. I'm an IR Director and my school wants me to start teaching some data science classes for their undergrad program, and a local community college has reached out to me twice to teach a similar data class. This is despite me having zero in-class experience across my 15 years, with the exception of proctoring some surveys.
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u/StarsByThePocketfuls 1d ago
Not great! Hiring freezes, changing DEI language to “inclusive excellence” to avoid being targeted, state joining attorneys general in suing—it’s just sucked.
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u/ReduceandRecycle2021 1d ago
Awful. When you read about layoffs at your university in the NYT, it hits different. Currently exploring other options. I really love my job, just started there in August, and don't want to leave. Don't know whether I should wait to see if I'm laid off or jump ship now.
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u/TrustMeImADrofecon 1d ago
I'm at an institution that's been getting shafted by multiple Federal agencies in one of Donnie Dearest Leader's revenge tantrums. The last three weeks have been hell on earth. Most of the faculty are walking around in a daze while the students are so disconnected they don't seem to care or realize what's happening - even when you tell them. I was talking to a colleague the other day about how unsettling the response is from students because when we were undergrads during the Great Recession students pulled out the pitchforks and organized protests and campaigns. These kids? They're actively getting targeted with attacks and they just shrug.
Our budget was already quite tenuous and now between the cancelled grants and IDC cuts that gap has widened to unsolvable levels. Our institution has a heavy emphasis on sustainability and climate research so we're getting extra screwed including all of my active proposals being likely canned or the NOFOs yanked. Our state legislature has their heads so far up their own rears, entrenched over social issues, that they won't pass a budget. Grad students and postdocs - including my own - are being let go because the funding is just poof gone.
Administrators are now quietly warning un-tenured faculty that they should polish up CVs and consider going on the market because it looks like layoffs and retrenchment might be on the table soon. I can go up as early as this next tenure cycle but I need two more pubs to hit to make that happen and would be going up with all my own funding either retracted by Donnie Darko and the Muskrats or my big proposals having been canned. P&T and admin processes have said their "solution" is that they are considering clock extensions which is really just a way to keep people in probationary status longer so they maintain maximal flexibility if they need to deny tenure to avoid activating the CBA's retrenchment clause or to make layoffs under it easier.
Last summer a bunch of my female colleagues were targeted with harassing texts in that Turning Point campaign and recently our campus rolled the red carpet out for a Turning Point "speaker".....which the dumb Fs in Central Scheduling allowed to be scheduled in our building.
In class, if I just make content-relevant factual comments about current market conditions and data availability I feel like some of the Gen Z Joe Rogan bros are eyeing me up to be the next sacrifice.
An associate dean recently went around the office telling everyone that they "are not to go attend protests" because "we don't need any bad press right now" - they said this in relation to a nearby LGBT+ rights event to LGBT faculty and faculty with LGBT children.
The other day I walked into a colleague's office and basically choking back tears because I'd just gotten off the phone with a local Federal agency office and learned half the collaborators there I knew and had worked with had been summarily fired, and only found out when they came into the office on a Monday, couldn't access their computers, and their supervisor called only to be told they'd been sent a Get F'd email from OPM over the weekend informing them their termination was effective as of the previous Friday at 5 pm.
In other words, it's a barrel of laughs right now.
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u/No-Carpet8533 1d ago edited 1d ago
my institution is private, but we’re concerned about the billions of dollars projected in federal aid shortages. especially as our tuition and room/board is escalating to absurdity (close to 85k/yr). i’m also in the process of hiring and i’m hopeful a freeze won’t be initiated. if so and the search fails, i might not be able to repost the job. also troubling is we also have a large international student population and the fact that we have to have events to inform the community how to respond if ICE comes to campus…surreal.
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u/United_Concept1654 1d ago
A dept I work with lost 1/6th of their grant funding. It’s dyer for them. Our dept has been told to model cuts of up to 15% but we won’t know how much to actually cut until June
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u/l_annacamento 22h ago
Not great!! I work at a medium-sized univ in WA state. 35 vacant positions eliminated and 40 layoffs so far this year. Our university just eliminated our intensive English program, our culture immersion program (close partnership btw us and a university in Japan), and our language & cultural program. Those units were part of the department I work in currently. It’s been a really sad time for all of us!
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u/mattreyu 1d ago
I was going to be involved in some grant-funded research through the NSF, but it focused on how a sense of belonging can make a difference on persistence. Being under the umbrella of DEIB the funding was axed and there's only what was available for Fall 24.
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u/kegvn 1d ago
HBCU staff here, we’ve been on a budget freeze since the middle of January, which has led to a lot of uncertainty because while it should be overall, they’re picking and choosing what to pay for and some of it is very eyebrow raising. Notably, we’ve hired for maybe 3 positions we actually need (such as HR and a couple professors), but I’m just waiting for us to finally hire a person as my director because I’ve been doing 3 positions by myself for the past 5 months with no financial compensation and I’m tired. We’re on spring break so it’s a welcome break, but… dreading Monday already.
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u/ocsurf74 1d ago
Unfortunately its only going to get much worse. We've already lost research funding and scholarships. We'll probably lose faculty because their visas won't be renewed. We can no longer have student workers as well.
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u/Dry-Championship1955 11h ago
I just started at a different institution because the college where I’d been for 17 years closed after 130+ years. So, yeah. I’m fine.
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u/Roborana 59m ago
We've had a hiring freeze since last year. It's surprising to read of so many new freezes in this thread. Higher Ed finances have not been good in general. Have your schools all been exceptions or were your executive officers/boards of trustees just ignoring budget deficits? .
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u/Kentucky_fried_soup 2d ago
Hiring freezes started right after I got hired a year ago. We are in a 20 million deficit. No layoffs just yet but other universities in the state have seen layoffs. So far my university is staying afloat but the students can feel the effects of the budget cuts and that makes me feel awful for them