2026 Annual Report

The University of Massachusetts' Annual Report to the Legislature illustrates the tremendous benefits the university brings to the Commonwealth across all five campuses: educating more than 73,000 undergraduate and graduate students, employing more than 25,000 faculty, staff, and researchers, and generating an $8.3 billion economic impact on the state's economy.

Each of UMass's nationally ranked campuses delivers excellent educational opportunities to students, contributes high-impact service to communities, and conducts valuable research that underpins the Commonwealth's innovation economy. This year, the university conferred degrees on more than 19,000 students, a large percentage of whom - more than 70 percent - will remain in Massachusetts post-graduation to contribute to their communities and the state's economy.

As the state's only public research university, UMass has worked tirelessly over decades to build a research enterprise that strengthens the university and drives economic prosperity throughout the Commonwealth. The university attracts more than $869 million annually in research funding, making UMass the third largest university research portfolio in Massachusetts, after Harvard and MIT, and fourth in New England. The impact of that research enterprise extends far beyond the university's five campuses and has enormous state and national economic benefits. UMass Chan Medical School, a world-class academic health sciences center that attracts students and researchers from around the world, is consistently ranked #1 in the Northeast for primary care education. It receives $350 million in research funding every year and garners more research funding from the National Institutes of Health than 19 other states.

Despite the challenges facing higher education institutions across the nation, there is plenty to be proud of at the University of Massachusetts. To highlight a few of the university's achievements this year:

Access and Affordability

• All UMass campuses continue to enroll strong first-year classes with more than 11,400 new students this fall, up 2.2 percent over last year. And for the second consecutive year the incoming class was the most diverse ever with 54 percent students of color.
• This Fall marked the first time eligible students could attend any UMass undergraduate campus without paying tuition or fees, something the university accomplished through continued investments in university-funded financial aid and the expansion of the MASSGrant Plus Program approved by the Legislature in FY2024 and signed into law by Governor Maura Healey. The MASSGrant Plus expansion was key in the university's ability to offer this tremendous benefit to students with the greatest financial need, along with continued investment in university-funded financial aid. University-funded financial aid now surpasses $422 million annually, an 80 percent increase from a decade ago. The average in-state student pays less than $6,000 in tuition and fees each year, and more than 14,000 students, or 1 in 3 Massachusetts undergraduate students, attended tuition-free last year.
• UMass's Early College program continues to make a difference in access and affordability, with roughly 1,500 students enrolled this fall. For the Fall 2025 semester, students and their families saved approximately $3.2 million in tuition costs through UMass Early College.
• In addition, the university continues to improve the transfer pathway from the state's community colleges, which represented 47.4 percent of last year's transfers to UMass campuses, totaling more than 1,700 students.

Academic Excellence and Rise in Rankings

• UMass Amherst is the No. 1 public institution in New England and No. 29 in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report.
• Both UMass Boston and UMass Lowell this year were designated as Carnegie Research 1 (R1) Universities, a designation held by only the top 7 percent of four-year institutions.
• UMass Boston and UMass Dartmouth ranked #1 and #2, respectively, as public universities in New England for Social Mobility, and UMass Lowell was ranked as the state's top value school by U.S. News & World Report.
• UMass Law School's Class of 2024 was #1 in Massachusetts for the percentage of graduates entering government and public service jobs.
• UMass Chan Medical School is consistently ranked as the No. 1 medical school in the Northeast for primary care education by U.S. News & World Report.
  

Strong Fiscal Management

This year brought unprecedented challenges to universities across the country, particularly regarding federal cuts and grant slowdowns to research funding. Like all higher education institutions, UMass also faces financial headwinds stemming from a difficult demographic environment due to a shrinking population of college-aged students. Through a proactive and assertive posture, UMass remains in excellent fiscal health and is equipped to confront the challenges ahead. UMass continues to be recognized as a national leader in the quality and rigor of its financial and operational management.

• The university's strong fiscal discipline and management led to the university ending FY2025 with a 3.4 percent operating margin.
• The university's bond ratings remain strong from ratings agencies, Moody's, Fitch, and S&P Global.
• A key engine for financial success is UMass's Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) program, which continues to win national acclaim. The program informs and guides all financial accountability activities and risk-mitigation strategies, providing transparency and shared understanding of risk across the system at both leadership and operational levels.
• The university's procurement services team, which has saved $178.5 million since its inception, received NASH's "Scaling for Change" award and was praised as a "proven, replicable model for the nation."

Capital Planning Process and Deferred Maintenance

The University of Massachusetts campuses face significant capital needs because most infrastructure and buildings were built more than 50 years ago. Despite fully engaged efforts over the past 20 years to modernize the campuses, the university faces a $4.8 billion backlog in deferred maintenance. UMass maintains a professional, transparent, and rigorously managed capital planning process. The Board of Trustees receives quarterly updates on its progress.

• UMass has a strong track record of incorporating sustainability into the capital program, having reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 27 percent, energy use intensity by 18 percent, and fuel oil usage by 62 percent over the past two decades.
• Due to the age of campus buildings, UMass is still one of the largest consumers of energy in the Commonwealth, with campuses accounting for 44 percent of total on-site emissions from state-owned buildings.

Growth in Philanthropic Giving

Private philanthropy continues to grow at the university, benefiting students, faculty, and staff.

The Foundation Endowment has grown to $1.8 billionin assets through the strong stewardship of donors' investments by the Foundation Board of Directors, chief executive officer, and the entire team at the UMass Foundation. In addition, the university is grateful for the significant support from Senate President Karen Spilka, House Speaker Ronald Mariano, and the entire Legislature for continued support of the Public Higher Education Endowment Incentive Program, which contributed $10 million in endowment matching funds to the university last year.

• In FY2025, the UMass Foundation disbursed more support to the campuses than ever before, reaching $46.4M in annual campus support from the endowment.

The university's many strengths documented in this annual report underscore how vital it is, for the good of the Commonwealth, that the state continues its strong support and investment in the University of Massachusetts. In the year ahead, the university recognizes there will be continued challenges that impact the university, but UMass remains committed to its mission to provide access to high-quality, affordable education that advances knowledge and improves the lives of the people of the Commonwealth, the nation, and the world.

Read the full 2026 Annual Report here.

To request an accessible version of the 2026 Annual Report, please contact Siraj Sayyed at [email protected].

Marty Meehan
President, University of Massachusetts