Brown University to Slow Faculty, Staff Growth as It Attacks $90M Budget Hole

Brown University (RI) is looking to hold down faculty growth to 1% and freeze its unrestricted staff headcount as it tries to reduce a structural budget deficit. Officials at the Ivy League institution also want to trim annual expense growth related to running its doctoral programs from 6% to 4% by reducing admissions targets and cohort sizes, according to a campus message Tuesday from Provost Francis Doyle III and Sarah Latham, executive vice president for finance and administration. Brown’s leaders expect those and other efforts to contain the university’s fiscal 2026 deficit to $60 million. That’s down from a projected $90 million if the university made no operational changes to address the budget problems, according to the officials.