By Jai’Michael Anderson

University of Louisville’s administrators discussed recent updates in a town hall on Tuesday, March 24.

U of L President Gerry Bradley and Provost Katie Cardarelli held the meeting in the Middletown Auditorium of Strickler Hall. They discussed the 2026-30 strategic plan, budget concerns and legislative updates.

Budget concerns

U of L’s budget has become a growing issue in recent years. This semester, U of L began rolling back programs to compensate for increased operational costs.

This semester, the university paused 10% of its graduate assistantships in the College of Arts & Sciences. Pan African Studies, Women and Gender Studies, Communication, Sociology and Political Science were among the affected programs.

U of L also ended its support of the Early Learning Campus and officially closed its Planetarium.

Throughout the semester, Cardarelli and Bradley have reiterated that each decision was made to align with U of L’s 2026-30 strategic plan.

But U of L students, faculty and staff question the need for such changes as the university continues hitting record-breaking strides.

Bradley said that despite record enrollment and housing occupancy, the increasing costs of living and operating a business outpace what U of L makes on tuition.

Academic instructional costs rose 8% from 2024-25, Bradley said.

The university is raising tuition to make up the difference.  However, public institutions are not allowed to raise tuition by more than $675 through the 2026-27 academic year – less than a 5% increase from U of L’s 2024-25 budget.

The university used 3.5% of this increase allowance last year.

“We needed the money to balance our budget that particular year,” said Bradley. “We knew we were going into a lot of headwinds.”

If the university uses the remaining cap this year, nearly $224, it will get a roughly $3 million return. But if U of L raises salaries by 1%, it would cost more than that amount, says Bradley.

“That doesn’t include the fringe, it doesn’t include healthcare, which is a huge part of the fringe costs, which are going up astronomically,” he said. “The balancing of our budget is going to be challenging.”

Bradley said that U of L will spend $14 million on health insurance claims next year.

“We are a self-insured entity, we’ve had a lot of claims. We’ve had a lot of people with high claims, and so we are going to absorb that cost into our budget,” he said.

He reiterated that the university will to continue “to make choices as we think about what it is we need as an institution to support our people, to continue our mission and to educate our students.”

More programs may be on the chopping block as the academic units finalize their budgets. Every dean has sent their projected revenue to Provost Cardarelli; spending decisions will be made after administrators assess where to reallocate funds.

Cardarelli and Bradley tasked each dean to suggest potential cuts to their schools. She said April will be “critical” to projecting which cuts may be implemented in the 2026-27 academic year.

Four “work groups” with faculty and student representatives have provided recommendations that will inform the university’s budget decisions for next year.

“A lot of conversations are going on right now. When we’re here in about a month or so, we will be able to provide additional information,” said Cardarelli.

The Board of Trustees will vote on the 2026-27 budget in July.

Questionable state funding

Ten percent of U of L’s budget comes from state support. Though the funds are “not a lot” according to Bradley, some of the money may get cut over the next two years.

After U of L asked for increased support in the 2026 Kentucky General Assembly, Bradley says the House passed a bill that would reduce educational spending by 4% in the first year then 3% in the next.

Based on U of L’s 2024-25 budget, this would be a $6 million cut.

The Kentucky Senate, on the other hand, proposed a bill that would offer similar funding to the support U of L received in 2025. The same bill would put another STEM building on the Belknap campus.

The House and Senate will meet in the week of March 30 to create a final budget for Gov. Andy Beshear’s approval.

Lobbying in Frankfort

U of L officials are working with legislators to remove or abate bills that the university has “serious concerns” about.

Bradley says the university is informing state officials of proposed legislature that could be potentially harmful to students.

“I am happy to say that a number of bills that we had a lot of concerns [about] have been withdrawn,” he said. “They have listened to us, and I think it can speak volumes to [the fact] that they do value higher [education], they do value what we say and it is important to be involved.”

The university is currently advocating against House Bill 490, which would allow university boards to fire faculty for financial reasons like misalignment of revenue and costs.

He said the bill uses vague language and could be applied ambiguously.

“We have got many departments here that are never going to be in the black (profitable), that’s part of our mission,” Bradley said.

“We want to make sure that we have the protection to make sure and say no one’s going to come in and say: ‘You have to close this, this and this, because you’re not making profits in those areas.’”

Photo by Jai’Michael Anderson / The Louisville Cardinal