After budget cuts and year without pay bumps, UNL gives 3% salary increases for staff

Tucked inside a lengthy and eventful University of Nebraska Board of Regents meeting Thursday was board approval for 3% salary increases for University of Nebraska-Lincoln staff.

The approval follows a year when university employees didn’t receive their typical cost-of-living increases. UNL staff didn’t receive raises in 2025 due to “system-wide fiscal challenges,” according to then-Chancellor Rodney Bennett.

That same year, Bennett proposed the university cut $27.5 million from its budget, which included chopping four academic departments. The NU Board of Regents followed through on the proposal, voting in early December to eliminate the programs. The university faced federal grant cuts in President Trump’s first several months of his second term and a smaller-than-hoped-for budget increase from the Nebraska Legislature.

Bennett abruptly left his post shortly after the cuts were made. Current Interim Chancellor Katherine Ankerson said Friday that she was “pleased to share that we will work within a 3% salary increase pool for eligible UNL employees.”

“This investment allows us to continue strengthening areas of academic excellence that attract students, expand research opportunities, and elevate the university's impact, while preserving critical investments in our academic programs and student support services,” Ankerson said in a news release.

The interim chancellor said final determinations on salaries will be made at the “college, department and divisional levels” and will consider factors like “inflation due to income level, performance, market conditions and unit priorities.” Employees should receive notice of their salary increases by July 1.

NU President Jeffrey Gold will also receive a pay bump. Regents on Thursday approved a bonus worth up to 15% of his salary, which could amount to $159,000. Last year, Gold rejected the extra pay.

Along with board approval for the salary increases, regents also voted to raise tuition by 4.25% for the fourth straight year. The university raised tuition 5% last school year and 3.5% the year before. Other approvals included appointing H. Dele Davies as the ninth chancellor of the University of Nebraska Medical Center and spending $368 million on upgrading the university’s Selleck Quadrangle, a central dormitory and cafeteria on campus.

By way of full disclosure, members of the Nebraska Public Media newsroom are university employees.