Layoffs expected at UNC as it looks to cut $70 million, chancellor says
Welcome to Dean’s List, a higher education newsletter from The News & Observer and me, Korie Dean.
Like many other universities facing financial pressure from state and federal government, UNC-Chapel Hill is looking to make cuts to its budget.
Campus leaders announced last month that they would seek to cut the university’s operating expenses by roughly $70 million, or about 2% of the campus budget, targeting “areas that can be streamlined for greater efficiency.” The impacted areas include athletics and financial aid for out-of-state students, among several others.
This year alone, leaders say they expect to identify “savings” of up to $29.5 million.
The cuts are significantly smaller than those expected at neighboring Duke University, where faculty have reportedly been told that leaders aim to cut roughly $350 million from campus expenses. Nearly 600 employees took voluntary buyouts at Duke this spring and summer, and additional layoffs were set to begin last week.
Still, UNC also expects to make staffing cuts as part of its cost-cutting measures — though details of plans to do so remain sparse.
That’s according to comments from UNC Chancellor Lee Roberts at a meeting of the university’s Employee Forum last week.
“We do envision that there will be layoffs as part of this,” Roberts said. “We don’t take that decision lightly.”
This week’s newsletter has a dispatch from N&O intern Twumasi Duah-Mensah, who shares more from the meeting. Also included:
- A look at why international student enrollment could be lower at local campuses as classes start back in the coming weeks;
- A report on why faculty are also concerned about the travel bans and visa delays under the Trump administration;
- The latest UNC System school to join online-learning provider Project Kitty Hawk;
- and more.
Here we go.
Layoffs expected at UNC, chancellor says
Here’s more from last week’s Employee Forum meeting, courtesy of Twumasi:
Addressing meeting attendees Friday, Roberts said he didn’t know how many layoffs there would be, saying the university is not that far along in the process. He didn’t have a timeline for when UNC would announce cuts, either.
“It would be unrealistic to go through an exercise like this and not expect there to be some layoffs,” he said, also noting that leaders will try to “do everything we can through attrition” and that they are “considering a buyout program.”
But Roberts stressed his disdain for across-the-board cuts, referencing a lesson he taught students in his public budgeting class at Duke and reiterating a point he’s made since early this year as the Trump administration came to power and enacted sweeping cuts to federal research funding.
“Across-the-board cuts are just a blunt instrument,” Roberts said. “They’re expedient, but that’s the only thing they have going for them. You have widely different impacts on different units with no reference to what their current level of staffing is, what their growth is, what the demand on their people is.”
The plan to cut the university’s budget will also impact UNC’s centers and institutes, part of a broader effort to cut $14 million in spending on academics. Roberts said any cuts to the entities would likely target a few centers for significant cutbacks or even closure.
“I’m reasonably sure that there’s some duplication and overlap in some of the missions and some where we’ve talked to the people who were present at the creation who acknowledge that the original mission has evolved or changed or is no longer as relevant,” Roberts said.
Roberts also addressed a question he said he’s been asked frequently since announcing the pending cuts: whether there are more to come. The “candid answer,” Roberts said, is that leaders aren’t sure.
“This is what we think is necessary to respond to the budget uncertainty that we see right now. If the budget situation — the state and federal budget situation — worsens, there’s a chance we’ll have to do more,” Roberts said. “But ... we’re not rolling out a larger plan in stages. We don’t have a secret plan for additional cuts in our back pocket that we’re planning to roll out a couple of months from now.”
ICYMI: Catch up on these headlines
Each year, tens of thousands of students from around the world arrive in North Carolina to study at the state’s colleges and universities. Last year, the number of students neared 25,000, according to federal data.
But this fall, amid changes to federal policies and procedures surrounding student visas, campuses could see fewer international students walking their halls.
In a special report published, N&O intern Sophia Bailly and I took a look at what a drop in international student enrollment could mean for the state’s universities.
To learn more, read the full story: NC has nearly 25,000 international students. Will that decline under Trump?
The Trump administration’s policies could also have impacts on faculty, who are grappling with how travel bans, restrictions and visa application delays could impact their teaching, their research and their desire to stay employed in the United States.
To learn more, read Sophia’s dive into this angle: UNC System faculty brace for fallout from travel bans and visa delays
NC A&T to join Project Kitty Hawk
NC A&T State University will be the fourth UNC System school to offer degrees through Project Kitty Hawk, the private nonprofit that powers online programs, designed for adults, for participating universities in the system.
NC A&T Chancellor James Martin and Project Kitty Hawk CEO Andrew Kelly were set to sign a memorandum of understanding to launch the partnership Tuesday morning.
A&T will offer two degree programs through the partnership beginning in January: a bachelor’s of science in criminal justice and bachelor’s of arts in liberal studies. A master’s in business administration will begin next fall.
The university anticipates launching four additional programs over the following 18 months, per a news release.
A&T will join three other UNC System schools that already offer PKH-powered degrees: NC Central University, Appalachian State University and East Carolina University.
Project Kitty Hawk, initially funded with $97 million in COVID-19 relief money, was originally projected to enroll nearly 31,000 students by the end of 2028. But the company has since downsized its projections to expect a little less than half of that amount to enroll by the same time. So far, more than 1,700 students have enrolled in a PKH-powered degree program since the company’s launch in October 2023.
Higher ed news I’m reading
- UNC officials this spring considered buying a private school in Michigan in order to fast-track a plan for the university to open an engineering school, records obtained by The Assembly show.
- Trump last week signed an executive order requiring colleges that receive federal aid to share admissions data with the federal government “to verify” that they are not considering applicants’ races, The Chronicle of Higher Education reports.
See you next time
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This story was originally published August 12, 2025 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Layoffs expected at UNC as it looks to cut $70 million, chancellor says."
CORRECTION: The master’s of business administration program that will be offered through Project Kitty Hawk will begin next fall. An initial news release from NC A&T State University said the program would start in January.
