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Annual Report

Download the 2025 APLU Annual Report

APLU annual Report cover with images of research, education, and engagement

Letter from APLU President Waded Cruzado:

I am pleased to present the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities’ 2025 Annual Report. 

In the face of an unprecedented array of challenges throughout 2025, public and land-grant universities have risen to the moment to deliver extraordinary positive impacts on their campuses, in their communities, and throughout the country and continent.  

APLU has deeply engaged our membership to help them deliver on their mission despite fierce headwinds so they can continue to drive student success; foster research and innovation to meet societal needs; and deepen community, economic, and international engagement to benefit all. In addition to fostering a vibrant community for leaders of public research universities, APLU made progress in 2025 on many issues, including to: 

  • Halt unlawful cuts to lifesaving and groundbreaking National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, and U.S. Department of Defense research undertaken at APLU member institutions.  
  • Effectively advocate with Congress to protect funding for research and stave off the most draconian proposed cuts, including the outright elimination of some research funding streams. 
  • Successfully block proposed cuts to Pell Grants, protecting the integrity of the vital program. 
  • Work in partnership with key lawmakers to improve the new higher education  accountability component of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and provide member institutions with key analytical tools to understand the impact. 
  • Secure $1.125 billion in new funds for agriculture research, supporting improvements in laboratories and research farms across the country. 
  • Co-led the Joint Association Group to develop and advocate for the adoption of an alternative legislative model that would appropriately recognize and reimburse costs incurred during research. 
  • Deepen U.S., Mexican, and Canadian higher education collaboration around research, economic development, and community engagement. 
  • Celebrate the 15th Anniversary of its partnership with the Coalition of Urban Serving Universities (USU) with continued support and impact for our urban members, including expanding the number of members advancing student success through the Student Experience Project (SEP) and Urban Adult Learner Institute (UALI).  
  • Help scale the use of highly effective technologies, like courseware in introductory chemistry and statistics courses on APLU member campuses. 

APLU looks forward to building on this critical progress in 2026. The year ahead will no doubt present an array of new opportunities and challenges for the public and land-grant universities, with shifting public policy, a rapidly changing technological landscape, and questions as to how institutions can best serve their students and communities.  

APLU members deliver extraordinary positive impact through their work. But working together through APLU, public and land-grant universities are able to harness the collective wisdom, impact, and advocacy of our institutions to unparalleled effect – for the good of our community and the public at large. 

Sincerely,  

Waded Cruzado 
APLU President