In anticipation of budget shortfalls, UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep Khosla announced a freeze on faculty hiring starting Feb. 26. This comes as the University of California system prepares for significant cuts to state and federal funding in response to President Donald Trump’s reduced grants for the National Institutes of Health and Governor Gavin Newsom’s restructuring of the state budget.
A Feb. 26 announcement by Khosla stated that freezing the hiring of new faculty is a measure to manage potential deficits and reduce expenditures while maintaining current facilities and operations.
“We are doing all we can to minimize any negative impacts as we fulfill our teaching, research, and clinical missions,” the announcement read. “Separate communications about logistics and parameters will be provided, and additional measures may be enacted if deemed necessary.”
Undergraduate and graduate students alike rely on state and federal programs to help fund and invest in research. The NIH alone allocates $600 million in funding to UCSD, and the California state government allocates billions of dollars annually to the UC system as a whole.
The Jan. 7 Academic Senate’s Committee on Planning and Budget meeting projected UCSD will have a $55 million budget shortfall as a result of changes to the state budget. The University is estimated to lose an additional $150 million as a result of NIH grant cuts, totaling more than $200 million in losses.
The NIH freeze occurred when the Trump administration blocked new grant applications on Jan. 27, which normally provides UCSD with over $150 million in funding every year. The details of the freeze are still unclear, as lawsuits filed against the Trump administration have not yet been resolved. On Feb. 9, the administration issued a new policy in an official press release that capped the NIH’s indirect costs, which includes grants and awards, at 15% for the foreseeable future.
The other major cut to funding is in the state budget. Newsom plans to defer around $772 million in state funding for the two public university systems — the University of California and the California State University — decreasing each budget by around 8%. This amount will be removed from this year’s budget and deferred for use by the systems in the 2027-28 fiscal year in an attempt to balance the budget.
UC President Dr. Michael Drake made a statement on Jan. 10 in UC News about the impact of Newson’s 2025-26 budget proposal.
“I am concerned about the impact of the proposed $271 million funding reduction on our students and campus services,” he said. “I look forward to our continued collaboration with the Legislature and Governor throughout the budget process to mitigate any harmful budget impact.”
The pending cuts to NIH and state funding will likely impact other campuses too, creating uncertainty for those seeking a faculty position at a university.
Sam Elgin, a professor in UCSD’s department of political science, wrote in the Leiter Reports, an online philosophy blog, briefly addressing the impact of the hiring freeze on potential applicants.
“I would strongly encourage job candidates with an offer that they like to accept quickly, as I suspect that UCSD will not be the only university to make this sort of decision in the near future,” he said.
A UCSD researcher who requested to remain anonymous commented on the implications of the short-term solution in response to the budget cuts.
“I understand why the University would want to prioritize current projects over hiring additional faculty, but in the long run, a hiring freeze and reduction in graduate school admissions will be detrimental to the future of research,” they said. “By enacting hiring freezes, we’re barring a younger generation from taking the first step inside this circle and missing out on their potential contributions toward this field.”
Third-year Aiden Krueger expressed a similar concern that the freeze is stifling the University’s ability to bring in new talent.
“Without new faculty coming in, there’s no turnover, no fresh perspectives,” Krueger said. “It’s worrying to think that, years from now, students might not have access to the same level of competitive faculty hiring that makes UCSD a strong institution.”
UCSD’s media team and UCSD Health did not respond to The UCSD Guardian’s request for comment.
