UNC-Chapel Hill announces cost-cutting plan amid nationwide federal funding cuts
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- UNC-CH plans $70M in budget cuts, with $29.5M reduced in 2025 alone.
- Out-of-state student financial aid slashed from 44% to 18% to save $17.2M.
- Additional cuts target faculty incentives, admin staff, and low-enrollment programs.
UNC-Chapel Hill has identified almost $70 million in budget cuts, about 2% of its total operating budget, campus leaders told the Board of Trustees Wedesday morning. The proposed cuts include up to $29.5 million for this year alone.
The biggest share of the savings, $17.2 million, would come from reducing financial aid for out-of-state students. The university would cut the share of financial aid out-of-state students receive from 44% to 18%, Vice Chancellor for Finance and Operations Nathan Knuffman, Chancellor Lee Roberts and interim Provost Jim Dean wrote in an email to the campus community.
UNC would save an additional $38 million from cuts to procurements and food purchases, unit optimization, energy savings and other administrative efficiencies, according to the email. Also included in that total is a “faculty retirement incentive program” and plans to consolidate and cut administrative staff roles and vacant roles.
The university is also evaluating academic programs with “low enrollment and waning interest,” which would save $2 million.
Knuffman presented a breakdown to the trustees’ Budget, Finance and Infrastructure Committee. He noted the proposed cuts come amid federal budget cuts to higher education and the state’s failure to pass a full budget bill for this fiscal year, which started July 1.
“This evaluation occurs on an annual basis but must be more rigorous in times like this,” Knuffman, Roberts and Dean wrote.
Athletics and other departments look for ways to cut budgets
UNC announced its cost-cutting measures a day after national news outlets reported that the Trump administration froze $108 million in funding for Duke Health.
The U.S. Department of Education and Department of Health and Human Services are investigating Duke for Civil Rights Act violations, alleging the university is engaged in racial discrimination that violates Title VI of the act, The News & Observer reported.
Knuffman noted the athletics department, graduate school, North Carolina Collaboratory and the UNC Center for Student Success were being especially active in identifying possible budget cuts for the Board’s consideration.
Board member Jim Blaine, the former chief of staff to the state’s Senate majority leader Phil Berger, pushed back on university agencies that were not stepping forward to volunteer budget cut proposals.
With more than a decade working in state politics, Blaine said those who have not raised a hand to willingly help the Board with its budget-saving mission “be scrutinized, too.”
He said Knuffman’s presentation proposed a “forward-looking active approach to addressing some of the stress (universities) are under.”
Knuffman declined to speak with The N&O.
What else is being cut at UNC?
Also on the chopping board was the former diversity hiring program, VITAE, and its replacement, ELEVATE, which will be phased out over the next four years, UNC Senior Director of Communications Kevin Best confirmed with The N&O. The program cut will save UNC an estimated $7.9 million, according to Knuffman’s presentation.
VITAE — Valuing Inclusion to Attain Excellence — already had been phased out in August 2024. Departments at UNC and programs like the Carolina Postdoctoral Program for Faculty Diversity (CPPFD) — a 40-year-old fellowship that received national recognition for successfully bringing faculty of color to the university — relied on VITAE funding to hire diverse faculty.
VITAE stopped accepting new recipients, but those already enrolled continue to receive the program’s benefits during their time as a faculty member. The CPPFD accepted its last cohort in 2023.
ELEVATE, a set of faculty programs with an equity-driven goal for employment success, was established after VITAE was discontinued.
This story was originally published July 30, 2025 at 11:15 AM.
CORRECTION: This article was updated to reflect a proposed $38 million in savings for UNC will include procurements and food purchases, unit optimization, energy savings and other administrative efficiencies. The article previously only mentioned plans to institute a “faculty retirement incentive program” and consolidate or cut administrative staff or vacant roles.
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