Anonymous wrote:Until U Chicago constructs a lazy river, it needs to keep on spending.

Agreed, this is clickbait!! An actual serious institution, unlike the Harvards and lazy river schools in the US...Although their new dorms are very nice and in line with the Auburn's and Alabama's lol

Anonymous wrote:This once great university has contracted Illinois disease. Sad!

Yep. State schools bringing in HS students to keep enrollment and #s up. Like MC and MCPS students or Howard CC and Howard county students.

Until U Chicago constructs a lazy river, it needs to keep on spending.

Most of these so called elite schools were run by academics with little or no financial acumen. Bloated administrative staff, high salaries and building sprees arm race.

Cornell has launched a massing spending cut program:

https://www.cornellsun.com/article/2025/10/cornell-launches-resilient-cornell-initiative-to-cut-spending-overhaul-operations

Anonymous wrote:How is this even possible with such high tuitions and big endowments??

Tuition does not cover costs at any large university.

"Financial reckoning"...so dramatic.

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. Kid pivoted from U Chicago to Swarthmore for ED bc of Chicago’s financial difficulties. Did not know about swat’s issues.

I wouldn’t worry too much. As someone else mentioned, the endowment is nearly $3 billion, and the S&P folks note that the school has strong demand and that operating performance is expected to improve over time.

DD is sophomore at UChicago. The irony in all of this is that these funding issues don’t really affect undergrads, because they’re all extreme workaholics who kind of revel in “toughness”—and it costs $0 to assign really hard p-sets and give impossible exams. The spending spree was probably likewise totally unnecessary, because most kids in my experience go there for the challenge and the Oxford-esque buildings that were built 100 years ago. The undergrads are upset about phd programs getting cut much like they are about Gaza—in a performative way only.

They should just raise tuition enough to get back in good shape. It's not like we all haven't. been overfunding our 529 plans since birth in order to pay these crazy tuition bills. What's an extra $15k per year?

Anonymous wrote:$100M is chump change.

It's an outrage baiting article.

It's ~3% of the budget ... any business can cut up to 10% any given Sunday.

The higher ed arms race (new programs, absurdly nice dorms, non-academic facilities, new sports, etc) of the last 20 years is coming for everyone...

$100M is chump change.

It's an outrage baiting article.

Anonymous wrote:How come no one has mentioned that swarthmore is $400m in debt before? That’s substantial!

Where do you see that?

How is this even possible with such high tuitions and big endowments??