The university will pause hiring and some building projects, according to Chancellor Pradeep Khosla. 

UC San Diego is pausing hiring and changing capital project plans amid “escalating financial pressures,” according to an April 1 campus notice to UCSD academics and staff from Chancellor Pradeep Khosla.

Current and proposed budget cuts, grant cancellations and stop work orders, federal agency reductions and payment delays, threatened cuts to Medicare and Medicaid and other factors “pose a significant financial risk to the university,” Khosla wrote.

In response to what UCSD estimates could be anywhere from from $75 million to more than $500 million annually in cuts, Khosla said the following changes have been implemented:

A hiring pause is now in effect for UCSD and UCSD Health, with limited exceptions; the Multidisciplinary Life Sciences Building and the Hillcrest Multipurpose Clinical Research Building projects are indefinitely delayed (current projects near completion will be finished); UCSD leadership is developing “budget strategies to respond to actual and potential reductions in research grants, indirect cost recovery and state funding,” Khosla said; and ongoing advocacy to safeguard research is underway.

In the last month, UCSD Principal Investigators have received approximately 50 notices of award disruption, Khosla wrote, with an increase in payment delay for expected grant monies.

“It is essential that we remain nimble and proactive in evaluating and responding to the many challenges facing our institution,” Khosla said. 

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