Duke University has adopted a wide-ranging cost-reduction program after federal funding changes tied to the Trump administration’s higher-education agenda, pushing the university to trim staffing and operations, a report distributed by The Associated Press said.
The report said the federal approach began after Donald Trump’s inauguration, with advisers including Stephen Miller playing a central role in demands on colleges and universities that higher education leaders described as an “overreach” on academic freedom. It said the administration sought to require universities to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, limit international student enrollment, reduce reliance on federally funded research, and adjust student loan and Medicaid reimbursement policies while increasing the tax rate universities pay on endowment income.
For Duke, which operates both a university and a health system, the report described federal funding lapses as hitting revenue streams. Duke responded with a cost-cutting effort, which the report said became one of the first universities to reduce its personnel pool and among those experiencing some of the largest budgetary reductions.
The university enacted a $364 million cost-cutting program, and the report said Duke’s Academic Council heard in September that the program generated $229 million in savings for the fiscal year 2026 budget, while Duke aimed to reduce its expense base by $350 million by 2030. The report said Duke projected that would require saving an additional $47 million in each of the next two years, plus $30 million in fiscal year 2029 and $11 million the year after—leaving Duke with $364 million saved, $14 million above its initial target.
The report described an early federal step in February: an effort to cap facilities and administrative reimbursement rates for certain federally funded grants at 15%, down from levels around 60%. It said the directive faced legal challenges and remained blocked in the courts, while the administration also called on funding agencies to end grants connected to DEI, freeze awards to some universities at their discretion, and reduce grant opportunities available to researchers.
In preparation for revenue uncertainty, the report said Duke President Vincent Price announced in March that the university would embark on a cost-reduction program, starting with a hiring freeze, a review of administrative efficiency, and reductions in non-personnel spending. In an annual faculty address a week later, the report said Price emphasized the importance of the program, saying Duke “no longer enjoy(s) at this moment” many of the federal resources it had relied on, including support from the American public and the government. The report also said Price urged Duke to be prepared “not only to seek cost-reductions across the university,” but to “re-imagine our work” as the university realigns around its highest priorities.
The report said that in mid-April, Duke administrators told staff in a webinar that “employment action” would be “inescapable.” Two weeks later, Duke announced a voluntary separation incentive program, or VSIP, offering buyouts to eligible staff. The report said Duke ultimately extended offers to 939 staff members and that 599 accepted, representing 5% of the university’s full-time staff.
The report said Duke later followed through on the message that layoffs would come if too few staff accepted voluntary severance packages. It said Price warned in June that layoffs would “likely” follow in that case, and that the layoffs largely occurred in mid-August, amounting to 45 employees laid off by September. The report also said the buyouts were paired with restrictions that limited staff from discussing terms or decisions outside of family or legal counsel, and that much of the severance package was covered by nondisclosure agreements, according to people who accepted the package.
Beyond non-faculty staff, the report described measures affecting faculty and research operations. It said Price announced a retirement incentive program for eligible faculty in June, with 82 of 273 faculty participating. It also said the School of Medicine, which the report linked to NIH award cuts, included plans that could affect tenured faculty, and that the school decommissioned the Jones Research Building as part of its own goal to cut $125 million in yearly expenditures.
When students and faculty returned to campus in mid-August, the report described changes in staffing support, including that incoming Trinity first-years were met with a smaller set of full-time advisers rather than the typical large volunteer adviser team, and that librarians’ subject support roles were reduced. It also described discussions at a September arts and sciences council meeting about how Duke communicated finances and administrative operations, with Trinity dean Gary Bennett saying the university needed to be “much more clear (and) straightforward” about the way it discussed those topics.
As Duke looked toward 2026, the report said the pace of the cost cutting had slowed as the university expected to operate with a $74 million budget surplus for fiscal year 2026. It said a September Academic Council presentation indicated the focus now would shift toward strategic realignment—moving resources toward Duke’s priority areas—while Daniel Ennis said the university was “in the aggregate” better positioned than it would have been without taking the action.