Changes in Funding Cause Changes in Budgeting at Pitt-Greensburg

The University of Pittsburgh, including the branch campuses, is changing the way they budget as funding cuts continue to occur under the Trump Administration. 

On Monday, March 10, Pitt announced in an email that they are instituting a faculty and staff hiring freeze due to the uncertainty surrounding federal funding. The freeze will remain in place until the end of the fiscal year, on June 30, with the potential to be extended into the next fiscal year. This freeze will impact all campuses. 

Dr. Robert Gregerson, Pitt-Greensburg president, explained that Pitt Greensburg will not be short on faculty or staff for the upcoming fall semester, but nobody knows how long the freeze will be in effect. 

“I am not concerned about this impacting classes,” Gregerson said. 

Faculty and staff searches that are in progress will be evaluated on a case by case basis on whether or not they will be continued or terminated. 

Gregerson explained that the freeze may impact current students who are on track to work for the university after graduation or visiting staff that are supposed to become full staff. 

The National Science Foundation is also facing loss of funding. Pitt-Greensburg has eight consecutive years of funding from NSF. This funding helps to support science research.

“We plan how we spend our money around the funding we get from sources like NSF and Department of Education grants. If there are funding cuts, that may force us to change the way we allocate money,” Gregerson said. 

The Department of Education is in a period of change under the Trump administration, so there may be changes to the funding they provide. Dr. Gregerson said that Pitt-Greensburg currently has a grant submitted to the Department of Education. 

“My biggest concern [is] Pell grants. We [Pitt-Greensburg] have so many students that rely on Pell grants. If that funding [were to be] pulled, so many students would not be able to afford college. That’s the last thing we want,” Gregerson said.