UNH laying off 75 employees in 'budget reset.' Declining enrollment cited by president.

DURHAM — Approximately 75 University of New Hampshire employees are being laid off as the university works to reduce its present operating expenses by $14 million.

President James Dean, who is retiring at the end of the academic year, alerted school staff and faculty this week that over six dozen employees were being laid off university-wide as part of a “budget reset.” Dean first referenced the need to cut expenses in an October message to the UNH community, calling on the school’s unit leaders to modify their current fiscal year budgets so the university could cut back on its anticipated expenses by 4%. 

The roughly 75 employees being let go will receive severance pay, health insurance continuation and access to job placement services, according to Dean. The vast majority of affected employees were university staff members rather than faculty, and those laid off were given 45 days notice starting Tuesday.

The layoffs will officially begin taking effect on Friday, March 1. 

“Today’s actions will also affect our remaining workforce,” Dean wrote on Tuesday. “Valued colleagues will be missed, and the university will look different moving forward as we carefully evaluate the alignment of programs and expenses to our core mission and strategic priorities. For many, this will mean changing how we work, including stopping some practices, consolidating some offices, and ending some programs and activities. At the same time, we will make thoughtful investments in areas we are positioned to be successful. This work is difficult, and I ask you to please be patient with each other as we all make adjustments in the weeks and months ahead.

“We are grateful to these colleagues for their experience and dedicated service to the university and our students,” he added. “These decisions were not taken lightly, and I know they will have profound effects on the impacted individuals and their families.”

A public dashboard shows that the entire university’s undergraduate enrollment has declined each year since the fall 2018 semester. At that time, 13,371 undergraduate students were enrolled at the university between its Durham and Manchester campuses. This past fall semester, that number had dropped to 11,716 students.

The school’s most recent highest undergraduate enrollment count was during the fall 2017 semester, when there were 13,558 undergraduate students attending classes in Durham and Manchester.

More:UNH President James Dean to retire in 2024

Last month, the Pew Research Center reported that nationwide in 2022, the number of 18- to 24-year-olds enrolled in American colleges was about 1.2 million less than peak college enrollment figures in 2011.

“Universities across the country are facing intense competition for students combined with rising costs for wages, goods, and services,” Dean wrote in his Tuesday email. “We know these challenges will persist in the coming years, and we must act to ensure that UNH is on firm financial footing to weather the challenges ahead.”

The spring semester at UNH begins Tuesday, Jan. 23.

On Tuesday, Dean wrote the university employee compensation and benefits are the school’s “single largest expense line” and “must be a part of a budget reset of this magnitude.”

“By addressing these challenges head-on, we are establishing a solid and sustainable financial foundation to ensure the success of our academic, research, and outreach programs and activities that are fundamental to our core mission and the exceptional UNH experience,” Dean’s Tuesday message reads. “As we commence the spring semester, I look forward to working alongside each of you to meet this moment and emerge as a stronger, more nimble university.”

Dean announced the school is holding a virtual faculty and staff town hall next Wednesday, Jan. 24, from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. regarding the budget cuts. Dean and the university’s executive committee will take questions from attendees. 

Representatives from two school unions, the UNH chapter of the American Association of University Professors and UNH Lecturers United, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

This story may be updated.