NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Rapid-fire changes with federal funding have impacted Tennessee State University, which has already undergone financial hardship.
In a finance committee meeting Wednesday, acting Chief Financial Officer Jim Grady provided an update to the Board of Trustees and revealed that 70 federal grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture were suspended and that TSU was unable to draw funds from those grants. The suspension meant nearly $45 million was pulled; as of March 3, only about half the federal funding had been restored.
As of publication, TSU has an available balance of more than $115 million in federal grants that could be subject to future suspensions or freezes. To mitigate the risk associated with the freeze, Grady said spending on all federal grants had been paused. Additionally, leadership is meeting daily “to evaluate the volatility of the current landscape and potential impacts to employees, students, and university operations,” according to a presentation shared with the committee.
Last December, 62 university employees’ salaries were fully funded by those grants and another 112 employees received more than half their salaries from federal grants. It’s unclear how many people stand to lose their jobs due to the funding cuts, but the Board of Trustees said they would start notifying affected employees within the next several weeks.
Last year, the university let go of 114 university employees as part of its “realignment efforts” to address the institution’s long-standing financial challenges. In 2023, Governor Bill Lee appropriated $250 million for capital projects.
While the grants will not impact scholarships this semester, one committee member said he believed students would be impacted this coming fall. Thirty-three undergraduate students will not be eligible for scholarships, though TSU is “working to identify other opportunities” for those students.
