Universities in Hesse Call for a Clear Path Forward for Their Financial Future

Even when the Hessian Higher Education Pact was signed in the summer of 2025, the universities were aware that the agreed-upon cuts would pose a massive threat to their basic financial security and ability to develop, according to the presidents of the Technical University of Darmstadt, Goethe University Frankfurt, Justus Liebig University Giessen, the University of Kassel, and Philipps University of Marburg. They noted that these drastic cuts came at a high price for a minimum level of planning certainty—which is now being called into question by further decisions that place a burden on the universities.

“We are consistently implementing the cost-cutting measures associated with the Higher Education Pact at our institutions—in some cases against immense resistance, for which we have great understanding,” emphasized KHU spokesperson Prof. Dr. Katharina Lorenz. “These painful cuts are pushing us to the limits of what is feasible. The fact that, in the midst of this process, the budget for the HEUREKA university construction program was stretched—and thus, when adjusted for inflation, effectively more than halved—is a serious setback for Hessian universities, given the enormous backlog of renovation work on our buildings.”

Moreover, it is of little help that the funds from the federal government’s rapid construction initiative in Hesse are being channeled entirely into university construction: for the most part, the state is using these funds to repay reserves that the Ministry of Science had previously borrowed from the universities for the 2025 state budget. “This merely provides us with funds to which the universities are entitled anyway—there is still no sign of urgently needed additional money for further construction projects,” Lorenz emphasized.

Against this backdrop, there can be no talk of a return of the higher education budget to 2025 levels by 2027: This portrayal ignores reality in light of the massive increases in collective bargaining costs, which universities—unlike other state agencies—must cover from their own funds.

Last but not least, reliable university funding is about the foundation of our society: “Universities make an enormous contribution to our state’s innovative strength—this is where the solutions to tomorrow’s challenges are developed,” said Lorenz. “They are also places of objective debate, free discourse, and informed judgment. In times of growing polarization and targeted disinformation, they make an indispensable contribution to strengthening our democratic culture. Cutting funding for universities means cutting into the very foundations of our democracy.”

For more information
, visit www.khu-hessen.de