The head of Washington University, one of the largest employers in the St. Louis area, announced the school is cutting more than 300 jobs as shake-ups in higher education and potential cuts to federal funding affect its budget.
Chancellor Andrew D. Martin, in a letter addressed to faculty and staff on Tuesday, wrote that the university is eliminating 316 staff positions and closing 198 vacant positions, which he said will result in $52 million in annual savings.
The job cuts are spread across the school’s main and medical campuses and its central fiscal unit, which comprises financial and other nonacademic offices.
“If we want to be great, and not just good, we must focus our resources where they will have the most impact and ensure that we’re positioned for success in the long-term,” Martin wrote, adding the school will continue to find more ways to save money.
“As difficult as this time has been, it is also a moment of opportunity. If we act with vision and discipline now, we can build a stronger foundation for generations to come,” he wrote.
Some of the job cuts are due to reductions in grant and other funding; others were a result of restructuring, he said.
WashU, with an annual budget of around $5 billion, employs more than 22,000 people. Nearly 6,000 of those jobs have been added in the past five years, according to the school’s website. Salaries in 2024 totaled $2.4 billion.
Martin was vague about the reasons for the layoffs, but the school could be affected by proposed cuts in research dollars. The school has historically been one of the highest ranked in the country for the amount of research funding it receives from the National Institutes of Health and other sources.
A new federal law taxes the earnings generated from the school’s $12 billion endowment at a higher rate, adding $37 million to the school’s annual budget, according to an earlier letter from Martin. Changes to the Pell Grant program could also affect the university’s bottom line, he said in the July message.
Martin’s letter on Tuesday also cited “changing needs of our students, emerging technologies, and innovations in teaching and learning.”
The school has reported a fall 2025 enrollment of 15,958 students after the first four weeks of class.
