The University of Chicago reduced its budget deficit by $128 million in FY25, according to the newly released year-end financial statement, advancing the University’s plan to balance the budget by the end of the decade despite external headwinds.
The improvement reflects work across the University to moderate spending growth and to grow revenues at a faster pace than expenses. It also reflects strong demand from students at every level, with a broad, long-term foundation from donors who provided record-setting philanthropic support for UChicago’s academic mission.
“Thanks to the work of so many people across the University, we took out a huge share of the deficit in FY25, and we’re on a very good path forward,” said Provost Katherine Baicker.
The University has enacted a range of measures to address its structural deficit, which was the result of long-term investments in the University’s academic eminence. The plan aims to sharpen and focus the University’s spending on transformative education for students and pathbreaking research across all fields. The significant signs of progress in FY25 include:
- The deficit fell from $288 million in FY24 to $160 million in FY25. Those figures count only the University portion of the budget and do not include University of Chicago Medicine, which ran a surplus of $80 million in FY25.
- Net assets grew by $471 million.
- The University’s portion of the endowment increased by about $500 million.
- Debt as a percentage of expenditures decreased from FY24 to FY25.
“We substantially outperformed our plan for the year,” said Ivan Samstein, enterprise chief financial officer at UChicago. “This is no reason for overconfidence—we still have a lot more work to do. But it is a very good start.”
The national outlook for higher education and federal support for research remains challenging, yet the University is on a sound fiscal path of spending discipline and revenue growth. In one reflection of the challenging national environment for research, revenue from government grants and contracts was down slightly; many other research universities experienced greater declines in research funding. Uncertainty about federal research support could continue to affect the University’s finances in the coming years, Baicker said.
“We need to calibrate spending and revenue growth carefully,” Baicker said. “Our job is to ensure that we put resources where they matter most for student success and the University’s scholarly mission.”