Quote from: DagarmanSpartan on June 08, 2026, 04:41:10 PMOK, so I just Googled it and found this.
https://www.hpherald.com/evening_digest/university-of-chicago-eyes-further-deficit-cuts-staff-raises/article_0d5db265-b2dd-43b0-800e-612287bb9a53.html
Yeah, it looks like the deficit is coming down, but its causes appear to be multi-faceted. Had no idea that John Rockefeller's pet university would ever get so deeply in arears.
Never imagined it. Hopefully, they'll get rid of their deficit completely over time.
As someone who worked at UChicago for more than a decade, there's a whole lot of spending going on. They upped their student enrollment, and had to build new dorms and buildings to house them. Whenever viable land in Hyde Park became available, they were snapping it up quick. They've had 3 hiring freezes in the last 14 years. I remember in 2013/2014 when they announced a $4.5 billion capital campaign and a hiring freeze in the same email (they had already raised $2 billion in the quiet phase).
There are a lot of factors when it comes to the high debt, but overexpansion is high on the list. They have multiple international campuses in Europe and Asia. Every time big gifts are made, it's some billionaire like Pritzker who wants to start a new major and build a new building. That money is earmarked just for those projects, and the operating budget just continues to swell. After all, the most expensive line item is personnel. Big time faculty get treated like royalty. The regular old staff members always got the short end of the stick. "Who needs a raise when you have the prestige of saying you work here?"
Frankly, you'd be very surprised at how low UChicago coaches are paid considering the expensive urban environment. Plenty of hiring candidates pull out of consideration from that factor (or don't apply to begin with).
One area that I think/hope they've remedied is athletic fundraising. Multiple times during my time there, a successful athletic alum wanted to make a big gift just to athletics, and they were told that they couldn't do it unless they gave an equally sized gift to the university in general. Needless to say, those alums were none too pleased about that ask, and that faucet would dry up quick.
All that being said, I did enjoy my time working there and I still hold UChicago in high esteem. Every institution has their quirks, but it's an amazing school for a reason.
