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Harvard’s hiring freeze: ‘They’re behaving like a corporation focused on maximizing returns’
Many readers said they believe the university’s large endowment would cushion any potential blows to funding.
Last week, Harvard implemented a hiring freeze in the wake of “financial uncertainties driven by rapidly shifting federal policies” – a move that came as no surprise to Boston.com readers.
In a letter to the Harvard community, Harvard president Alan Garber said the university would hit pause on hiring faculty and staff university-wide as federal policies play out. He underscored that the freeze is a temporary, not long-term, solution to “uncertain revenues.”
“It is meant to preserve our financial flexibility until we better understand how changes in federal policy will take shape and can assess the scale of their impact,” Garber said in the announcement. The freeze will remain in effect for the current semester (which ends in mid-May), and will be revisited as “circumstances warrant,” he added.
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The hiring freeze comes as universities across the country face intense scrutiny by the Trump administration, coupled with potential cuts to federal funding. Last month, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology implemented an immediate hiring freeze on “all nonessential positions,” except for faculty, in response to “changes at the federal level.”
While Harvard and MIT have not had funding pulled by the Trump administration, universities are bracing for the impact – and others are already reeling from the aftermath.
In early March, the Trump administration pulled $400 million in grants from Columbia University, alleging it failed to stop antisemitism on campus. In a letter on Friday, Trump followed up with a list of demands for the university to meet in order to reissue the cut grant money.
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The Columbia funding cuts don’t exist in a vacuum; over 50 universities are now under investigation as part of the Trump administration’s effort to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
When we asked Boston.com readers if they were surprised or concerned by Harvard’s decision to implement a hiring freeze, nearly 70% of the 98 respondents to our poll said they were not surprised, while just over a quarter (28%) said they were.
Harvard is implementing a hiring freeze due to uncertainty over federal policies. Are you surprised and/or concerned?
Yes
28%
No
69%
I don't know
3%
“Makes sense considering all the negative news over the past few years from Harvard,” Chris C. from North Andover said.
Many readers said they believe the university’s large endowment would cushion any potential blows to funding, sparing the school from the brunt of financial impact.
“Harvard’s endowment is like that of a small country. If any university can persevere through a budget cut, it’s Harvard,” reader Ellen F. from Medway said.
Readers are right to point out the scale of the endowment – it’s the largest in the country, totaling $53.2 billion, according to an October 2024 financial report. But while the endowment is a significant source of funding for the university, the funds aren’t a free-for-all.
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The vast majority (80%) of the endowment funds have use restrictions, according to Harvard’s website. This means the funds are restricted by the donor to a particular School (Harvard has 13 of them) for specific uses, including financial aid, professorships, and specific fields of scholarship.
Even with the endowment, two-thirds of Harvard’s operating expenses (which totaled $6.4 billion in fiscal year 2024) are funded from other sources, such as federal and non-federal research grants, student tuition, and gifts, according to the university’s website.
As local universities in Boston grapple with federal policies, readers share their reactions to Harvard’s hiring freeze below.
Responses have been lightly edited for grammar and clarity.
Are you surprised and/or concerned by Harvard’s hiring freeze?
No
“Although I’m no great fan of DOGE, this smells like a PR stunt rather than a necessary financial decision. Harvard’s endowment is more than $50 billion, and annual returns on endowment’s investments run into the billions. I’d imagine they can afford to absorb costs associated with any future reduction in federal funding. They’re behaving like a corporation focused on maximizing returns rather than a non-profit educational institution.” – Darla, Wakefield
“Higher education has been due for a correction for a long time, and Harvard is no exception. If the value of the degree doesn’t exceed its cost to obtain, then that degree’s value should be in question. The college of engineering and sciences will be fine. All those social ‘science’ degrees should be scrutinized and layoffs should happen.” – Josh, Cohasset
“I’m not surprised they need to take action, but it is very concerning. Our country seems to be getting steamrolled into submission, and it’s been less than two months [since President Donald Trump took office]. I dread the thought of what things look like in a few years. To be clear, I agree that we need to audit federal spending, but the pace and slash-and-burn mentality is what’s frightening.” – Anonymous reader
“Harvard employee here. Federal policy change is just an excuse to make cutbacks. There’s been a hiring freeze in my department for years. When people leave, job duties are just shifted to remaining staff. When big managers leave, they merge departments. We don’t even hire students or summer help anymore. With a huge push to incorporate automation and AI into our work, these jobs aren’t coming back either.” – Anonymous reader, Cambridge
Yes
“Why exactly do we allow Harvard to have a $50B pool of tax-free assets, tax breaks on expensive real estate, and several other endowments (med school, B-school) in the billions all tax-free if they won’t use that money to protect their faculty and staff? Isn’t this exactly why voters let them have those? They don’t need to freeze spending – they need to spend their massive endowment to meet obligations and continue to fulfill their mission if the government spigot is slowing. Harvard claiming poverty is laughable. If they don’t spend that money now, the fig leaf of education should be considered gone, as they’d just be a hedge fund with a higher learning problem.” – Al, Easton
“The completely disproportionate $400 million cut to Columbia’s funding should be terrifying to any American who values academic freedom, and freedom of speech. Trump is using congressionally approved federal funding to destroy his enemies.” – Michele, Needham
“Shows how much Harvard is tied to federal money even though they have the largest endowment.” – John S., Medfield
“I am concerned, but not surprised. Trump’s administrative nominees and heads of major agencies, and DOGE’s actions, are no doubt going to put us into a recession. He is simultaneously trying to drive us back to 1950 while propelling us into some dystopian future. If the chaos and revolving door of his first administration (lest everyone forget!) are a harbinger of the current one – with zero oversight or guardrails from current cabinet members – we are totally ‘in’ for it.” – Mark L., Holliston
Boston.com occasionally interacts with readers by conducting informal polls and surveys. These results should be read as an unscientific gauge of readers’ opinion.
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