Nuclear reactors, budget uncertainty. What NC State trustees discussed

Hello reader! Welcome back to Higher Stakes, the News & Observer’s higher education newsletter. I’m your host, Jane Winik Sartwell. Last week, I attended NC State’s Board of Trustees meeting, their very last of the school year. They meet at the Park Alumni Center on Centennial Campus, which overlooks Lake Raleigh and is flanked by many wolf sculptures.

Did you know there’s a free concert series at Lake Raleigh this spring? You can catch some tunes and food truck bites at NC State’s LIVE at Lake Raleigh on May 7 and May 21. I went last Thursday after I finished up at the trustees meeting, and it was fun: think sunset, lawn chairs, soft serve, lake views.

A new nuclear reactor on NC State’s campus

NC State is looking to build another nuclear reactor on campus. The university conducted a feasibility study for a Generation IV sodium fast‑cooled research reactor on Centennial Campus, Chris Frey, associate dean for research in the college of engineering, told the board on Thursday. It would be housed in a larger research facility at the end of Main Campus Drive.

Now, the university will ask the legislature for $13 million to fund the advanced planning phase of the project.

NC State is already home to the world’s first academic research reactor, Frey said, so this would build on historic leadership in the field. That old reactor, built in 1953, has a remaining operating life of about 10 to 20 years. Hence, a new one. The operations of the two reactors may overlap some, Frey said.

The new reactor “will support grid reliability, clean energy and emerging energy demands, including AI and data centers,” Frey said. ”The university-based advanced research reactor will allow not just North Carolina State University, but the state of North Carolina, to capture federal investment, attract industry and grow talent here, rather than having those opportunities default to other states.”

According to Frey, a new reactor has the potential to generate up to $2 billion annually in statewide economic activity, in addition to training the next generation of the nuclear energy workforce. NC State is the only American university that’s looking at building this kind of reactor, which means it will fill a national gap in the field, Frey said. He didn’t provide any estimates for the full capital cost of the reactor in his presentation.

“This is something the president of the United States started talking about, the kind of research he and his administration wanted to invest in: It was around nuclear, it was around power, it was around AI, it was around all the things that this university is already focused on,” Chancellor Kevin Howell said at the meeting.

A look at what’s behind the uncertainty in higher ed

Since President Donald Trump took office in early 2025, we’ve all heard the word “uncertainty” — a lot. But it isn’t just federal changes causing confusion and insecurity: There are plenty of confounding factors here on the state level too. Last week, NC State’s Board of Trustees got a detailed look on just what continues to cause that uncertainty.

Charles Maimone, executive vice chancellor for finance and administration at NC State, walked the trustees through all the factors he’s considering at the state level:

• There’s a potential for funding reductions should a state budget pass in the state legislature’s short session that just started. For example, the budget proposed by the Senate includes a cut of $33.6 million to centers and institutes across all UNC schools.
• Because no state budget passed last year, the UNC System is without the enrollment funding it relies on to pay for the costs of teaching and providing services to students, beyond what is covered by tuition. A bill to provide the funding the system didn’t get last year — more than $46 million — is headed to the conference process so legislators can work out a deal.
• Schools like NC State are still figuring out how to navigate NIL and revenue sharing in college athletics. The school wants to offset these costs with sports betting tax revenue. Currently, 13 public universities receive this revenue, and the budget proposals would extend that roster to include NC State. But as I mentioned above, that never passed. A document detailing NC State’s fiscal year 2026-27 budget says, “Athletics budget includes $19 (million) increase for student athlete revenue sharing.”
• Maimone also cited “market-driven volatility in energy rates and increasing usage for (a) growing campus and AI” and “critical investments required to maintain preeminence of research enterprise including computing and security” as drivers of budget uncertainty.

Allison Newhart, NC State’s vice chancellor and general counsel, walked the trustees through the factors causing uncertainty on the federal level. Here’s her slide on that:

Newhart said that this uncertainty affects each of NC State’s risk areas. Those include things like student campus unrest, mission continuity, succession planning, enrollment, and financial resources. But the primary risk it ratchets up, according to Newhart, is student well-being.

Headlines you don’t want to miss

• For children of NC veterans, the state tries to deliver on its broken educational promises by me
• Duke freezes operations of pro-Palestinian student group over cartoon post by me
• NC A&T funneled millions in aid to students, children of university employees, audit says by Faith Wardwell
• UNC’s Henri Veesaar declares for the NBA Draft, won’t return for senior year by Shelby Swanson
• UNC’s Caleb Wilson turns pickup run at campus rec center into farewell moment by Shelby Swanson
• NC State basketball gets an unexpected commitment. Here’s who’s joining the team by Jadyn Watson-Fisher
• Is Duke’s Dame Sarr returning to school or going to the NBA draft? What he decided by Chip Alexander

What I’m reading

• ‘Immensely disappointed’: Student organizations criticize end of Black Student Alliance Invitational by Dylan Halper and Ella Moore
• ‘RELEASE THE SCILL FILE’: Students, faculty rally for UNC to release investigation into civic life school by Julia Horstkamp
• East Carolina University dropping dozens of programs in effort to slash $25 million from its budget by Annette Weston at Public Radio East

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NOTE: Last week’s newsletter incorrectly indicated that NC State had canceled Wolfline Route 52. I hadn’t realized that, between the time of my reporting and the time of my writing the newsletter, NC State had reversed that decision. I sincerely apologize for that mistake.

— Jane Winik Sartwell

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Jane Winik Sartwell

The News & Observer

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Jane Winik Sartwell covers higher education for The News & Observer.