Updates on federal actions and budget planning

Dear Johns Hopkins University Community, 

It has been a difficult several months as we, and our colleagues across higher education, navigate reductions and uncertainties in federal research support, as well as changes in federal policy, including recent efforts to limit or withhold visas from the international students and scholars who are valued members of our community and key contributors to our academic and research mission.   

We write today to update the Hopkins community on what we are facing, how we are responding, and what we anticipate. 

Challenges to our Mission 

As many of you know first-hand, we continue to experience a steady stream of research grant terminations, suspensions, and delays. We shared in March the loss of more than $800 million at Hopkins from USAID grant terminations. Since January, we also have had 90 grants terminated by other agencies, resulting in the loss of more than $50 million in federal research funding, with more terminations arriving nearly every week. 

Moreover, we are seeing a marked decline in the pipeline of new federal research awards at Hopkins, down by nearly two-thirds since January, compared to the same period last year, despite continued high scores and an increase in submissions by our researchers. We fear that this downward trend may be laying the groundwork for deep cuts to the extramural research programs at the NIH, NSF, DOD and DOE—further fraying the extraordinary and longstanding research partnership between universities and the federal government and significantly curtailing Hopkins’ capacity to undertake our core academic and research mission and to sustain the people who allow us to realize it. 

Similarly, the recent moves by the federal government to revoke or withhold visas from eligible international students and scholars run counter to more than a century of collaboration at Hopkins with students and scholars who hail from around the world. Our international community has always been critical to our research mission, and we are deeply concerned about the toll of this uncertainty on our students and on our university as a whole, with every division set to welcome current and prospective international students, faculty, and staff who choose to make their home at Johns Hopkins. 

On the horizon, too, are a host of proposed actions that are gaining steam in Congress and will seriously impair our ability to carry out our mission, including a proposed cap on the reimbursement rate for research-related facilities and administrative costs, which could reduce our federal research funding by more than $300 million annually; a proposed increase in the endowment tax (and changes to its calculation), which would undermine student financial aid and faculty support funds; proposed cuts to Medicaid, which risks excluding vulnerable patients and increasing the cost of care provided by our School of Medicine faculty and the Johns Hopkins Health System; and proposed cuts to the federal Grad PLUS loan program and Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program for medical residents. 

Budget Implications and Planning 

Although the precise timing and impact of funding reductions will vary across our divisions—depending on funding sources, student composition, and other factors—many parts of the university are already experiencing the effects of these developments and facing uncertainties about the future. 

In close collaboration with the deans, and in consultation with our partners in shared governance, including the Faculty Budget Advisory Committee (FBAC) and Johns Hopkins University Council (JHUC), we have been working to develop strategies to ameliorate the impact of these challenges on our people and to plan for various scenarios ahead. These include a focus on immediate steps we can take to preserve funds to protect our workforce while we await final federal budgets; moderate but meaningful further expense reductions in our baseline budgets for the next academic year; and ongoing exploration of more aggressive actions down the road if needed to safeguard our core mission.

In that spirit, the following steps will be implemented immediately to shore up university and divisional finances through this period of uncertainty:

• Pausing annual pay increases. We have resolved to delay decisions on annual pay increases for most employees. Increases that typically take effect on July 1 will be paused for all employees earning more than $80,000 per year. This pause will allow time to understand the full nature and magnitude of the federal government’s proposed changes. If our financial outlook stabilizes in the coming months, we will reevaluate the pause, with a view to implement increases in January 2026. Employees earning $80,000 or less per year on a full-time equivalent basis who are not part of a bargaining unit will receive a 2% annual increase effective July 1. 

• Freezing staff hiring. Effective immediately, we will implement a staff hiring freeze across the university for new and existing positions. Divisional leadership will retain discretion for approving exceptions to this temporary measure, including for mission-critical positions and those covered by grants or other restricted funds.  

• Slowing capital projects. Over the last several years, the university has embarked on an extensive capital renewal campaign with strategic investments in projects involving research, academic space, and student life. Prudence dictates cutting back our ambitions in the near term, and we have decided to reduce our capital construction and renovation plans by approximately 10-20%. Final decisions on these reductions will be made over the summer in consultation with the divisions, with an emphasis on continuing mission-critical projects, essential deferred maintenance, and projects that are already far along in the permitting, demolition, and construction process.

• Reducing spending and increasing efficiency. Across the university, discretionary spending will be reduced on expenses such as travel, food, supplies, and professional services. These reductions will vary by division, and deans or divisional leadership will provide specific guidance in the coming days. We also are working within university administration and each division to find additional opportunities to increase revenue and reduce costs by operating more efficiently. Some of these projects are already underway; others will be integrated into our financial planning in the months ahead. 

Later this month, we will host a Community Updates webinar on these steps and the overall budgetary landscape. Details will be available via the Hub, and we hope you will bring your questions for university leaders. 

Our Ongoing Efforts 

Finally, as we shared in April, we are continuing to advocate and take steps to address the impacts of these federal actions on Johns Hopkins and higher education. We are working individually and collectively with our peers—through organizations like the American Association of Universities (AAU), as well as patient groups and research coalitions—to challenge the cuts to F&A (indirect cost recovery), for example, and to ensure that the story of our research impact and the university-government research partnership born in the embers of WWII is reaching critical audiences. The case for the unparallelled bounty of this compact is strong, and the contraction of research universities’ activities cannot help but diminish American progress, scientific advancement, and the health and welfare of citizens everywhere.  

We also are closely monitoring federal actions affecting our international students and scholars and providing a range of supports and resources through our Office of International Services (OIS). And, we are continuing to be both scrupulous in our compliance with the law and thoughtful in how we sustain our capacity to be a place that prizes pluralism in all its respects, advances opportunity, and combats discrimination, including through new online courses to ensure that every member of our community understands our commitment to antidiscrimination under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 

Information on these topics, and more, is available on a new website, which we hope you will look to not only for federal updates but also for inspiring stories of the incredible work and discoveries that are happening here at Hopkins every day.  Share it—as well as your own stories—with others to highlight how Johns Hopkins’ longstanding partnership with the federal government has made the nation and world healthier and safer. 

We know that these are uncertain times, and we appreciate your unwavering commitment to research, teaching, and clinical care; to academic excellence; and to the well-being of the Hopkins community. Together, with transparency, resilience, and compassion, we will continue to uphold our mission and advance our vital work. 

Sincerely, 

Ron Daniels 
President

Ray Jayawardhana
Provost 

Laurent Heller
Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration