Gold argues for more state money for university, despite Nebraska’s financial woes

LINCOLN — University of Nebraska President Jeffrey Gold sought Thursday to make the case for NU’s request for more money in the state budget as the Nebraska Legislature braces to address the state’s financial woes in the upcoming legislative session. 

In his State of the University speech, Gold gave a laundry list of how the university brings “more than $10 for every dollar of state investment.” He pointed to the university’s involvement in responding to a hantavirus outbreak earlier this year, including the quarantine of 18 Americans at the National Quarantine Unit in Omaha, and he noted that Nebraska Extension was “central” to the state’s response to the wildfires this spring and summer. 

He told the crowd at the State Capitol Rotunda that the university has “long been a careful steward of the resources entrusted” to it.

“But after years of reductions, we have reached a point where continued cuts will unfortunately increasingly mean doing less for the people who depend on us,” Gold said. “We have lost talented people and valuable programs that make a difference for our students, our communities and our state.”

The university is seeking $166 million more from the state’s next biennium budget. That sets up a likely clash with Gov. Jim Pillen, who is asking NU and other state agencies to cut spending by 5% — though Pillen’s memo raised questions from others about whether the governor has the power to impose such a cut without legislative approval.

Nebraska is facing a nearly $850 million deficit by mid-2029 that state lawmakers will have to figure out. In 2024, NU requested a 3.5% increase for each year of the 2025-27 budget cycle; Pillen suggested a 2% cut in the first fiscal year in January 2025. 

Ultimately, lawmakers increased NU’s budget by about 0.6% each year of those two years. Gold told the press after his address that NU has “tried to do more with less. In the last couple of years, we tried to do the same with less.”

“Last year we had to make some very hard decisions,” Gold said. 

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln saw four programs eliminated as part of $27.5 million in budget reductions, including $6.5 million in proactive cuts. The NU system cut $40 million across all its campuses.