Families will see a 4.25% increase in NYU’s sticker price next year, marking the university’s largest tuition hike in over a decade. The rise is coupled with a tightened budget for faculty awards and ongoing hiring freeze amid the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle higher education.
President Linda Mills, Provost Georgina Dopico and Executive Vice President Martin Dorph announced the fiscal changes in a universitywide memo Tuesday morning. They said administrators cut budgets by an average of 3% across all departments in anticipation of “financial challenges and uncertainties,” adding that the reductions would most heavily affect “travel, events, meals, and additional other-than-personal-service items.”
“It is essential that we remain focused on our future: that we make strategic academic investments that uphold our commitment to our research and teaching mission, sustain our institutional momentum, and ensure the financial health of our university, both short-term and long-term,” they said in the memo. “Meeting these goals requires prudent decisions now with an eye on the future.”
The university’s budget for merit-based pay raises will also take a hit, with around 30% fewer faculty members eligible. Its ongoing hiring freeze is also set to continue — with exceptions for “critical” positions — although administrators will receive three extra off-days in lieu of added responsibilities.
Administrators said that to reflect the increased tuition, now around $68,575, NYU’s financial aid budget for undergraduate students will reach over $500 million — compared to $485 million last year. The NYU Promise program, which was launched in fall 2024 to cover tuition for students whose families make $100,000 or less, will also remain unchanged.
They also announced a new $20 million initiative to fund faculty research, postdoctoral support and proposal-development — awarded based on “research potential and impact” — in the wake of the Trump administration’s billions of dollars in grant terminations. The university will also expand outreach to private sectors for philanthropic funding and prioritize work that is still federally funded, such as quantum and artificial intelligence.
Since U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January, NYU has faced persistent threats to its federal funding, particularly for diversity and research-related programming. At least two grants were cancelled in a complete funding freeze in February, and the university has been named in two targeted lists for Title VI concerns.
In response to the Trump administration’s threats to slash federal funding and “a range of other proposals,” NYU joined dozens of schools in enacting a hiring freeze in March. At the time, Mills, Dopico and Dorph said they will “continue to vigorously advocate for robust federal support of higher education” but “need to address risks sooner than later.”
The year’s reductions mark a stark change from the 5% budgetary increase last year and steady hike since at least 2021. The 2024-25 budget — while supported by a 3.4% surge in cost of attendance — had included compensation increases, focus on capital projects and renovations, and developments in science and technology programming.
The Trump administration has also reinforced efforts to sweep universities of their international students — a group that comprises a quarter of NYU’s student body — with pauses on visa processing and unprecedented social media regulation. In their memo, administrators also directed international members to NYU’s resource web page for announcements and updates regarding policy changes and encouraged them to seek assistance through the Office of Global Services and Wellness Exchange.
Contact Amanda Chen and Dharma Niles at [email protected].
