ITHACA, N.Y. — Cornell University says it’s facing “profound financial challenges” and is taking several steps that will “reduce Cornell’s workforce,” something the university calls a “necessity” to ensure its long-term financial viability.
Cornell cited hundreds of millions of dollars in federal research contracts that were either “terminated or frozen;” along with “serious threats” to future research funding, federal financial aid, medical reimbursement, and research cost recovery, along with an anticipated tax on its endowment income, and “rapidly escalating” legal expenses.
The message to the Cornell community about the school’s “financial austerity” was signed by Cornell University President Michael Kotlikoff; Provost Kavita Bala; Robert Harrington, Cornell’s Provost for Medical Affairs; and Chris Cowen, Cornell’s executive VP and CFO.
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The Ivy League school’s “funding challenges” come as it has dealt with a “marked and unsustainable” increase in expenses due to inflation, the expansion of its workforce, and other cost pressures, per the message.
Action plan
To deal with the situation, Cornell says it will begin a “comprehensive” review of programs and headcount across the university. Since June 2021, Cornell’s workforce has grown by more than 15 percent — “greatly outpacing our revenue,” the university conceded.
The review will involve personnel from every campus, college, school, and administrative unit to streamline processes, create efficiencies, and reduce duplication of work.
As it prepares to unify its information systems across campuses, Cornell will also pursue “opportunities to simplify and consolidate operations and deploy technology where appropriate.”
In addition, hiring on all campuses will remain restricted for the 2025-2026 academic year.
Discretionary expenditures including travel, food, and purchasing will also remain restricted for the 2025-2026 academic year. Cornell will also review research operations on all campuses to make them “more cost effective and efficient.”
University officials, however, stressed, “Cornell’s funding model, developed over 160 years, is strong and diversified, and has carried us successfully through many past crises. We are now experiencing simultaneous attacks or threats on every element of that model. While we are confident that we will weather this crisis, we will only do so by working together to make the difficult, but necessary, changes to ensure that Cornell will continue ‘to do the greatest good’ for many years to come.”
