Dive Brief:
- Facing both federal and state funding cuts, University of Minnesota officials are looking to raise tuition and cut academic program funding to balance the budget, the public institution announced last week.
- A $5.1 billion budget proposal for fiscal 2026 would raise in-state tuition prices for undergraduates and graduates by 6.5% at the university’s Rochester and flagship Twin Cities campuses, with slightly lower increases on undergraduate tuition at the Crookston, Duluth and Morris campuses.
- The proposal would slash programmatic budgets by 7%, the university said. Its board of regents is expected to act on the budget request at a meeting next Wednesday.
Dive Insight:
In a message to the university community last week, University of Minnesota President Rebecca Cunningham opened with a stark statement: “We face unprecedented challenges across higher education.”
As Cunningham noted, state funding is “uncertain and historically trending downward.” She also pointed out uncertainty in federal funding and international student enrollment under President Donald Trump and a Republican-led Congress.
The Trump administration’s federal research cuts have already led to job losses at the University of Minnesota. The institution also faces an expected 3.5% cut in state funding when adjusted for inflation…