The University reaffirmed its plans to limit PhD program budget growth and unrestricted staff expansion at Tuesday’s faculty meeting.
These limitations are a part of Brown’s response to its $46 million budget deficit. The University hopes reducing staff growth and PhD programs’ budgets will help put Brown on a path to positive operating margins in five to six years and minimize the budget deficit to a maximum of $60 million in fiscal year 2026.
At the meeting, President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 told faculty members that the cost of the University’s PhD programs have grown by 43% in the past five years. But to address the deficit, Brown plans to restrict the program’s budget growth from the projected 6% to just 4%.
The rise in cost is partially due to the increasing PhD student stipend rates, Provost Francis Doyle said. He added that stipends in the humanities and social sciences have nearly doubled, while those in the life and physical sciences have grown by 65%.
The number of enrolled PhD students has also increased by 21%, which contributed to the rising costs, according to Doyle.
This admissions cycle, certain departments will have to be “more cautious” when reviewing applications, Doyle said. He suggested that these departments utilize waitlists “more judiciously” or adjust their admission targets.
But Doyle emphasized that the University plans to continue supporting its PhD students and programs as much as possible.
“We want to maintain program viability,” he said. “We don’t want to put pauses on PhD admissions, and we want to have a minimum cohort size of two…even for our smallest programs.”
The University also plans to restrict the net growth of its unrestricted staff, who are staff members not fully funded by gifts or grants. Currently, the growth of these staff members is outpacing that of undergraduate students — who financially support the University by paying tuition, Paxson said.
The restriction of unrestricted staff growth, Doyle said, will not be “uniformly implemented.”
Unrestricted staff headcounts in “revenue-generating” areas — like masters programs — may continue to grow, he explained. But to limit overall growth, headcounts in other areas may need to be reduced.
“We’re going to do more with less — whether it’s staff or PhD students,” Doyle said. “We’re navigating some tough waters.”
Samah Hamid is a senior staff writer at the Herald. She is from Sharon, Massachusetts and plans to concentrate in Biology. In her free time, you can find her taking a nap, reading, or baking a sweet treat.
