The big picture: Colleges made deep cuts to full-time staff in 2025, experiencing a 6.6% drop, while simultaneously adding tenure-track faculty at the highest rate since 2016. This indicates a strategic shift in resource allocation within higher education institutions.

Why it matters: This trend signals a significant reprioritization of talent in a major sector, impacting demand for administrative versus specialized academic roles. Workforce and staffing leaders must recognize these evolving institutional staffing models.

Between the lines:

• Full-time staff at colleges decreased by 6.6% in 2025 compared to the previous year.
• The number of tenure-track professors saw its largest increase since at least 2016.
• These findings are based on the latest survey of higher education employees from CUPA-HR.

Staffing & HR impact: Staffing firms may face reduced opportunities for general administrative placements in higher education, while demand for specialized academic recruiters could rise. HR departments in academia must navigate complex workforce restructuring and talent redeployment challenges.

The bottom line: Higher education is strategically rebalancing its workforce, prioritizing core academic roles over broader support staff.