After operating at more than a $150 million deficit the last academic year, Penn State implemented a hiring freeze Monday through at least next summer in an effort to help balance the university’s budget over the next several years, according to both the university and an email obtained by the CDT.

The “temporary strategic hiring freeze,” as university spokesperson Wyatt DuBois characterized it, is not a complete freeze as critical positions - such as those linked to safety, student success and compliance - will continue to be filled. The freeze also does not include graduate assistantships or positions that are fully funded by external grants or contracts.

It does, however, include currently posted positions where an offer has not already been extended, per an email sent to select faculty and authored by Clarence Lang, dean of the College of the Liberal Arts.

“A variety of factors have contributed to the university’s current financial situation, including significant inflation, flat state funding for a third consecutive year, tuition freezes in three of the last four years, and enrollment and revenue pressures at least partially due to the pandemic,” DuBois said Monday in a written statement, which echoed part of Lang’s email.

The move comes less than two weeks after Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi, who took over in May, acknowledged during a board of trustees meeting that the university operated at a $166 million deficit during the 2021-2022 fiscal year. Although the university used its central reserves to off-set last year’s deficit, such a practice is not sustainable, according to Sara Thorndike, the university’s senior vice president for finance and business.

That shortfall is partly why Penn State’s board of trustees approved varying tuition increases for the 2022-2023 academic year, 5% for the average in-state University Park undergrad and 6% for the typical out-of-stater, with no increase for students of families making less than $75,000 annually. Most employees are also set to receive a modest 2.5% general salary increase, although a universitywide 3% cut is also on the horizon after being discussed for months.

In an email sent to faculty in the College of the Liberal Arts, Lang acknowledged - even in the best-case scenario - tenure-line faculty hiring “will be particularly lean” this academic year.

“I expect that I share your concerns about this rapid course of events, which mirrors an unfortunate trend across public institutions of U.S. higher education,” Lang wrote, before alluding to employee pay raises and the $75,000 threshold involving tuition. “Still, I am heartened by our university’s efforts to minimize some of the impact these austerity measures will have on Penn State students and employees.”

University officials will present an operating budget to the trustees for the upcoming academic year in September - and did not do so in July, as usual - to allow more time for departments to revise their budgets.

According to Lang’s email, Penn State is aiming to save about $250 million to help balance the budget over the next three years, in line with a new multiyear budget allocation model.