The University of Hawaiʻi has set another record in extramural funding for the fourth year in a row, bringing in $734 million in fiscal year 2025. This is up 20% from last year’s $615 million, which set its own record.
U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda stated that this funding provides nearly 10,000 jobs across the system and noted the importance of keeping local talent and knowledge at home.
“We must make sure that we can make the case again and again that Hawaiʻi matters, that all people matter, that science and fact matter,” Tokuda said. “It creates the opportunity for kids (to not feel) like they have to leave Hawaiʻi to make their mark.”
Extramural funding includes any money coming from sources external to the state, including nonprofits and businesses, to support the work and research being done at the university. Funding from the federal government makes up the majority of the extramural funds UH receives, at just over 90%.
But with drastic changes to federal budgeting over the past few months, a portion of this funding could end up on the chopping block. So far, 66 grants at UH have been terminated, which is a loss of over $89 million.
Key federal funding sources, like the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, are feeling the heat with threats of funding cuts to their organizations. The ripple effect could be felt far and wide, and rather quickly, in higher education institutions through grant terminations, staffing cuts, and department restructuring.
UH President Wendy Hensel said this recent milestone is bittersweet, stating that it’s filled with a great deal of pride as well as hesitation and concern for what the future may bring.
“At the same time that we celebrate our impressive research success last year, we are navigating the unprecedented federal funding cuts that will affect UH in the year ahead,” Hensel said. “We continue to monitor the situation and will take whatever steps we can to maintain the tremendous momentum of our research enterprise.”
Tokuda and other members of Hawaiʻi's congressional delegation said the university has their unwavering support, stating that UH research is both a “win for the state and the country.”
