Update from university leadership regarding budget actions

February 13, 2026

Dear Faculty and Staff,
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In June 2025, the university announced several budget actions in response to financial challenges stemming from the recent decline in federal research funding. These measures included a freeze in staff hiring, slowing of capital projects, reductions in discretionary spending, and a pause in annual pay increases for employees earning more than $80,000 per year.
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We took these actions universitywide, recognizing the importance of coming together in a moment of unprecedented challenge to protect our core mission. We also committed to reevaluating the pause in pay increases if our financial outlook stabilized midyear. Unfortunately, at this point in the academic and fiscal year, we continue to face substantial financial uncertainty. As a result, the university and its divisions have decided not to lift the pause on pay increases at this time.
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Together with the deans, however, we have committed to resuming annual pay increases for the coming fiscal year, which begins on July 1, 2026. As in the past, pay increases will be set by each division through the annual budget process and implemented on each division’s usual timeline.
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As we have shared previously, most recently in our community update webinar on the university’s finances in November, the largest financial risks facing the university have been the decline in new federal research awards and ongoing grant terminations. The statistics on these have not changed appreciably since then and remain deeply concerning for many of our divisions and the university as a whole. As time passes without improvement in these underlying trends in federal research, their cumulative impact becomes more significant. In the final analysis for calendar year 2025, the total outstanding value of our multiyear federal research portfolio declined by more than $500 million.

‌We will continue our advocacy efforts, as well as our pursuit of alternative revenues, and share regular updates as developments warrant. As of this moment, we are planning for another community update webinar in the spring. In the meantime, your divisional leaders can speak to the unique impacts each division is facing, given how widely these vary among the schools.
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Thank you, as always, for being part of the Hopkins community, for the important work you do every day, and for your commitment to our mission of research, teaching, and clinical care.
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Sincerely,
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Laurent Heller
‌Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration
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Lainie Rutkow
‌Interim Provost
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Meredith Stewart
‌Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer