Finance
By the Numbers: Financial report reveals scale of financial costs, growth
Following a year marked by financial turbulence, Northwestern’s financial report for fiscal year 2025 revealed the University’s struggles and growth as they navigated a tumultuous landscape in higher education.
The latest report detailed fiscal year 2025, which began Sept. 1, 2024 and ended Aug. 31, 2025. It did not include the University’s stipulated $75 million payment to the federal government, which was part of the agreement struck in November 2025.
According to the University’s 2025 financial report, net assets sit at $16.2 billion, up from 2024’s $15.6 billion. However, the University spent almost $148 million more than it brought in during fiscal year 2025.
In the last five fiscal years, the University has increased steadily in operating costs for assets without donor restrictions.
Year-to-year increases in operating costs hovered around 10% in the past five fiscal years. Simultaneously, revenue growth has decreased year to year, from 12.8% between 2021 to 2022 to only 3.9% between 2024 to 2025.
Amanda Distel, NU’s chief financial officer, identified “rising benefits expenses, litigation, new labor contracts, and rapidly unfolding federal actions” as key challenges in fiscal year 2025 in the report.
Before the deal, NU invested between $30 to $40 million each month to sustain research impacted by the federal freeze, interim President Henry Bienen confirmed in an Oct. 24 interview with The Daily.
In an attempt to reduce costs, the University announced a switch in July to UnitedHealthcare from Blue Cross Blue Shield as the University’s employee health care administrator, effective Jan. 1. However, faculty and staff have reported increased out-of-pocket costs for certain services like mental health care.
Financial aid increased from $618.3 million in fiscal 2024 to $638.3 million in fiscal year 2025. Among undergraduate students in the 2024-25 school year, 15% are first-generation college students and 22% receive federal Pell Grants. According to the report, most families earning less than $70,000 per year attend at no cost, and most families earning less than $150,000 per year attend tuition-free.
Tuition is the second largest source of revenue behind grants and contracts. By the end of the fiscal year, the University held $778 million in outstanding conditional awards, an increase from fiscal 2024’s $713.5 million, according to the report.
Distel wrote that the number of gift commitments above $100,000 reached its highest in University history, calling it a “strong year of philanthropic support.”
Donor funds are categorized by whether or not restrictions were imposed on the time, use or nature of the donation. In fiscal 2025, University net assets without donor restrictions totaled $9.59 billion, or 59.1%, while net assets with donor restrictions totaled $6.65 billion, or 40.9%, of total net assets.
The University’s investment in construction efforts saw an immense uptick from $275.2 million in fiscal 2024 to $750.5 million in fiscal 2025.
This cost is spread across multiple projects, such as Ryan Field, which started construction in 2024 and is slated to open October 2026. The project operates with a $862 million budget, including a $480 million contribution from the Ryan family.
The Ann McIlrath Drake Executive Center, Cohen Lawn and Jacobs Center renovations also continued during the fiscal year.
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“We will continue to work tirelessly and proactively to make Hong Kong even better and stronger as a leading international financial centre,” Wong said.
The consultation period closed last month, and HKEX was now reviewing feedback before finalising the measures, he added.
He said Hong Kong was building a commodities ecosystem, using gold as a strategic entry point, with plans for expanded storage and refinery capacity and the reactivation of a US dollar gold futures contract.
Dominic Anthony Walsh / Houston Public Media
One of the “Big Three” credit ratings agencies improved its outlook on the city of Houston’s financial position on Thursday, two weeks after city officials approved major reforms to the city’s revenue flow.
In a news release announcing the “stable” outlook, the agency said the city “made substantial progress in materially reducing its budget gap … through various structural changes.”
S&P Global lowered the city’s outlook in 2024 amid rising public safety costs tied to the more than $1 billion blockbuster settlement with the firefighters’ union, which included immediate backpay and hiked salaries by more than 30% over the five-year agreement. The “negative” outlook signaled the possibility of a credit downgrade, which would raise the city’s borrowing costs.
This year, Houston Mayor John Whitmire’s administration redirected about $100 million in revenue from the city’s water and wastewater utility to the $3 billion general fund, which supports most departments including police and fire. At the same time, the administration moved the more than $100 million solid waste department out of the general fund and into the utility while adopting a $5 monthly fee for garbage customers.
Altogether, the changes essentially erased the projected deficit for this fiscal year, which runs through June 2027.
Steven David, Whitmire’s chief operations officer, said the improved outlook is “just a validation of the work that Mayor Whitmire has been doing for the past two-and-a-half years.”
“If fiscal stability is a house, we’ve laid the foundation with this fiscal year, and it’s good to see that S&P is recognizing that,” he said.
S&P’s statement included a note of caution. The city’s budget deficit has routinely ballooned beyond what was planned.
In 2026, the administration expected a gap between revenue and spending of about $70 million. The actual deficit exceeded $170 million, although the city’s critical fund balance remained on target.
“If these deviations from the city’s budget continue, it could weaken our view of the city’s budgetary practices and overall reserves, aligning them more closely with those of lower-rated peers,” the agency said.
City Controller Chris Hollins — Houston’s elected financial official and a vocal critic of Whitmire’s financial policies — said the warnings “show we’re not out of the woods.”
The other “Big Three” credit ratings agencies have not yet announced changes. Fitch maintained a negative outlook, first assigned in 2024, while Moody’s outlook remained stable.
Digital payments are becoming an increasingly common part of everyday life in Uzbekistan, helping bring more consumers into the formal financial system and increasing demand for services beyond basic transactions.
According to a financial inclusion survey conducted by the Central Bank of Uzbekistan with support from the Asian Development Bank, 71.17% of respondents reported making or receiving at least one digital payment in 2025, compared with 39% in 2021.
The increase follows several years of policies aimed at expanding financial inclusion, encouraging electronic payments and introducing digital tools such as remote identification systems for banking customers.
Interviews conducted by Euronews on the sidelines of the Tashkent International Investment Forum (TIIF) suggest that the rapid adoption of digital payments is now beginning to influence wider parts of the financial sector, from lending and insurance to investment products and banking services for businesses.
Digital payments enter the mainstream
Industry executives point to a combination of demographic, technological and regulatory factors behind the growth of digital financial services.
Nikolay Seleznyov, co-founder of Uzum, a company active in e-commerce, digital payments and financial services, said the expansion is bringing more people into the banking system.
“More and more people are becoming bank customers. And this trend is irreversible.”
Oliver Hughes, chairman of TBC Uzbekistan, a digital bank operating through the TBC UZ and Payme applications, pointed to the country’s young population and widespread use of mobile technology as factors supporting the shift towards digital services.
The trend is also affecting established lenders. Dmitry Sapronov, deputy chairman of Ipoteka Bank, which became part of Hungary’s OTP Group in 2023, said customer demand for digital services has increased significantly in recent years, requiring banks to rethink how they deliver products and interact with clients.
Regulation and infrastructure
Executives said the growth of digital finance has been supported by both regulatory changes and investment in digital infrastructure.
The Central Bank and other institutions have introduced measures aimed at expanding financial inclusion and encouraging electronic payments, while digital identification systems have made it easier for consumers to access banking products remotely.
“The digital ID product was one of the biggest enablers here for all the players in the financial services industry,” Seleznyov said.
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