*The symposium agenda is at https://causalai.net/jp90/.
From Forbes: Add Vanderbilt University to the ever-lengthening list of premier institutions that are expanding their offers of free tuition to undergraduate students. The university announced last week that it was revising its Opportunity Vanderbilt financial aid program and will provide tuition-free scholarships to students from families with incomes up to $200,000 and typical financial assets. The previous threshold for free tuition was $150,000, which Vanderbilt established just two years ago, in 2024. The new eligibility criteria will take effect in fall 2027, and it will apply to both current undergraduate students as well as those who enter Vanderbilt next fall.
...Between 2024 and 2025, MIT, Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Texas, Brandeis University, the University of Utah, Smith College, Bryn Mawr College, the Stevens Institute of Technology, Wake Forest University, Emory University and The Ohio State University all rolled out their versions of free college tuition. The current year has seen a quickened pace of new offers. First, Yale University announced it was expanding its financial aid program and would offer free tuition to entering undergraduates from families with annual incomes below $200,000 and cover all the costs of attendance for those from families with incomes below $100,000. Two months later, the University of Notre Dame enhanced its undergraduate financial aid program so that students from families with annual income below $150,000 would have all their tuition costs covered starting in the 2026-27 academic year.
In May, the University of Chicago unveiled one of the most generous aid packages, guaranteeing free tuition starting in the fall of 2027 for undergraduate students from families with annual income less than $250,000. As part of its plan, Chicago promised it would cover tuition plus the costs of housing, meals and other fees for students from families with income less than $125,000. Rice University followed suit in August, announcing that it was expanding its major financial aid program and would, starting with students who enter in fall 2027, offer free tuition to those from families earning up to $200,000 annually...
Full story at https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2026/09/21/vanderbilt-to-pay-tuition-for-families-with-income--of-200000-or-less/.
From the Yale Daily News: Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis stayed silent on the federal investigation into Yale College admissions during his first interview with the News this academic year. Though he declined to comment on the Department of Justice’s inquiry into whether Yale discriminates against white and Asian applicants, Lewis said he has always valued diversity “of all kinds.” ...
When asked... if Yale College admissions discriminated against white and Asian applicants, Lewis declined to comment on the investigations. “I think, on that, I just should refer you to President McInnis’ comments because of the ongoing nature of that,” Lewis said. McInnis also said... that she believes Yale’s admissions practices follow the law but that she does not know how courts will interpret the Supreme Court’s affirmative action ruling. She added that she does not comment on ongoing legal matters...
Full story at https://yaledailynews.com/articles/lewis-mum-on-federal-inquiry-but-stresses-diversity-by-legal-means.
Last Wednesday, Chancellor Frenk circulated a statement on a variety of campus issues including the budget. We reproduce the budget section below:
Budget Model
We are undertaking a comprehensive assessment of our financial model to ensure UCLA remains strong for decades to come. This work includes developing a new budget model while reviewing capital planning and major administrative functions.
Financial Update: Building a Stronger Financial Future for UCLA
In March 2026, we shared a projection that the central account would close FY26 with a deficit of approximately $220 million. I am gratified to report that the actual year-end deficit was significantly lower, at $58 million.
This improvement reflects a series of concerted measures taken throughout the year. While we implemented permanent reductions in many areas, a significant portion of the FY26 improvement resulted from one-time measures. At the same time, we assumed new recurring costs, including mandated wage increases and additional funding necessary to support critical operations. As a result, the $58 million year-end deficit is positive news for FY26, but it does not represent a comparable reduction in our ongoing structural imbalance. The underlying central structural deficit therefore remains in the range we previously reported (https://mcw4-bg0jt18s-ppxrgd5mn-5zq8.pub.sfmc-content.com/l5iciwkzaq5), giving us reason to persevere in our efforts.
It is also important to note that these figures refer specifically to the central account. Several campus units continue to operate with expenditures that exceed revenues, including UCLA Athletics, where a significant financial gap persists. I recently asked Tim Harris to serve as our new CEO and director of UCLA Athletics.
He is taking a disciplined approach to addressing the department’s structural deficit, with a clear commitment to greater financial accountability, aligning expenses with available resources and building a sustainable operating model.
We will continue to identify annual solutions that mitigate the immediate impact of these structural gaps. At the same time, we are developing the financial and operational changes necessary to achieve sustained budget balance. Ultimately, our solutions must both close the central structural gap and ensure that units across the campus operate within their available resources.
Source: https://chancellor.ucla.edu/messages/framework-for-uclas-future.
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Here's the problem. There is no definition of "deficit." We know that whatever it means, it doesn't include UCLA Health, a very big chunk of the campus budget that seems to be run autonomously from Murphy Hall's budgetary process. If deficit means revenue < spending, the difference has to be coming from somewhere. There are only two sources for that kind of deficit: running down reserves and/or borrowing. What are the revenues? What is the spending? What reserves do we have? If the "structural" deficit is $220 million and that remains valid, but the actual deficit was $58 million, there must have been a lot of one-time cuts that presumably can't be maintained on an ongoing basis. (If they could be maintained, presumably the structural deficit would be reduced to $58 million.) So that raises the question of what is meant by "structural deficit."
There is reference to a new "financial model." It is unclear what that term means. Is it some kind of budget forecasting program? Or is it just basic accounting software that allows quick data retrieval? Does it mean that we will eventually have timely publication of the budget? Right now, the latest budget available is 2024-25, not the budget for last year to which the $58 million deficit applies. Yet there must be budget numbers for last year since we know what the deficit for that year was.
UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk (front row, center left) and Tamir Sheafer, president of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (front row, center right), sign a memorandum of understanding between UCLA’s Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies and Hebrew University, surrounded by representatives of the two institutions and friends and supporters. The two leaders also signed an MOU creating a framework to jointly pursue biomedical research.
UCLA Newsroom, September 23, 2026
UCLA has signed two memorandums of understanding with The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, opening new avenues for collaboration in biomedical research, teaching, scholarly exchange and other academic activities.
The agreements were signed Sept. 22 at UCLA by Chancellor Julio Frenk and Hebrew University President Tamir Sheafer.
One calls for the joint development of a UCLA–Hebrew University Biomedical Research Collaboration, which would identify research priorities, encourage interdisciplinary projects and create opportunities for learning, discovery and scientific exchange. The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA will manage this effort on UCLA’s behalf.
“By bringing together complementary expertise and resources, we can help accelerate discoveries that benefit patients far beyond our own institutions,” said Dr. Steven Dubinett, dean of the Geffen School of Medicine and associate vice chancellor for research. “Establishing this framework is an important first step.”
A separate five-year agreement between the Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies, a constituent part of the UCLA International Institute, and The Hebrew University lays the groundwork for a broad range of academic activities, including faculty and scholar visits, graduate and professional student exchanges, joint conferences and research programs, and cooperation in postgraduate education and training. Specific activities will be developed as funding, space and other resources become available.
“I am delighted that with this MOU, the Nazarian Center and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem signal their formal intent to work together on a broad variety of mutually beneficial academic activities,” said the center’s director, Steven E. Zipperstein. “We are thrilled to launch this collaboration with our colleagues in Jerusalem.”
Source: https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/ucla-hebrew-university-expand-academic-and-research-ties.
From the California Post: The tech elite of Silicon Valley are spending millions on a new college alternative that they hope will be an incubator for top talent, encouraging students to build AI models instead of taking science classes or doing homework. Venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz is spending $35 million on an unaccredited two-year alternative to traditional college based in San Francisco. It’s aimed at students ages 16 to 22 with the goal of cultivating the “world’s most ambitious young builders.” The undertaking has raised another $7 million from founding partners including Anduril, Anthropic, Coinbase, Google, Meta, Nvidia, OpenAI, Palantir, Replit and Stripe, according to Andreessen Horowitz, which is also known as a16z.
The Horowitz Andreessen Academy will technically operate as an independent business, not a school, run by Gagan Biyani – the co-founder of online-learning platform Udemy – while a16z partners Marc Andreessen and Erik Torenberg will join him on the board. Investors are hoping young eggheads will enroll in the academy instead of dropping out of college to launch their own start-ups, so they can get first dibs on the next generation of AI talent. Some of the most valuable AI start-ups are run by teens and 20-somethings who have raised millions of dollars. Each student will have access to more than $50,000 worth of access to coveted AI computing power from the founding partner companies, which will open their networks to enrollees and advise on the school’s curriculum. Students will also receive a $5,000 travel and exploration budget, access to a16z’s investors and instruction from guest lecturers including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Steven Sinofsky, the former head of Windows, according to a press release...
Full story at https://nypost.com/2026/09/22/business/tech-elites-launch-college-alternative-for-next-generation-of-ai-geniuses-raises-42m/.
UCLA computer scientists take key roles in $75 million quantum computing efforts
The NSF initiatives aim to overcome critical barriers between today’s quantum systems and practical computing
UCLA Samueli / UCLA Newsroom
Two UCLA computer scientists will help lead major national efforts to address some of quantum computing’s biggest challenges, serving as co-principal investigators for separate research institutes backed by five-year, $37.5 million grants from the National Science Foundation.
The two institutes are among eight NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes receiving more than $290 million in new funding to advance U.S. quantum science and accelerate the development of technologies with practical applications. UCLA Samueli School of Engineering professors Jason Cong and Jens Palsberg will each help lead one of the initiatives.
Cong is a co-principal investigator for the newly established Institute for Fault-Tolerant Quantum Systems, Architectures and Applications, led by Harvard University with UCLA Samueli and MIT as co-leads. Researchers will work to make quantum computers capable of performing useful calculations reliably despite the errors and noise that plague current systems. Cong will head UCLA efforts to develop software, algorithms and AI-based tools to improve their reliability and efficiency.
Palsberg, meanwhile, is co-principal investigator for the NSF Challenge Institute for Quantum Computation, a UC Berkeley–led research network that includes UCLA Samueli, UC Santa Barbara, Caltech and Stanford. Renewed with a five-year, $37.5 million grant, the institute will investigate the capabilities of quantum computation and develop new quantum technologies and applications. Palsberg, co-director of the Center for Quantum Science and Engineering at UCLA, and the UCLA team will focus on overcoming bottlenecks in current trapped-ion quantum computing systems and developing software that can compare different quantum technologies.
“Quantum computers have the potential to solve problems that are out of reach for today’s computers, but we still have a lot of work to do to get there,” Palsberg said.
The UCLA researchers hope their work will help identify where quantum computers can ultimately make the greatest difference.
Source: https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/ucla-computer-scientists-take-key-roles-quantum-computing.
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Background from the Daily Bruin:
...The federal government suspended $584 million in UCLA’s federal research grants in July 2025, alleging that the university allowed illegal affirmative action, “men to participate in women’s sports” and antisemitism. Chancellor Julio Frenk denied the federal government’s allegations... Hiring freezes across labs also reduced research opportunities for postdoctoral researchers and graduate students. Some researchers who were already working in research labs lost their salaries until their grants were restored later in 2025. A federal judge restored most of the grants in August and September 2025...
“This grant really cements UCLA as a leading player in the whole quantum computing field,” Palsberg said. “Out of the eight institutes that are going in the second round of QLCI (Quantum Leap Challenge Institute), two of them have participation from UCLA. There are not so many universities that can say that.”
Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2026/09/26/ucla-receives-75-million-in-nsf-grants-for-quantum-technology.
