ANU had a consolidated headline surplus of $117m in 2025, improving on $90m in 2024, according to its Annual Report to Parliament.
However, when one-offs and purpose-specific earnings are stripped out, there was a $29.5m underlying operating deficit, also an improvement on the $144.7m loss in 2024.
With total revenues unchanged at $1.637bn, just $1000 up year on year, to $1.637bn, the improvement came from $25m in savings.
Staff costs were stable at $856m, including redundancies, at 52% revenue – at the bottom of the range for large public universities.
The use of underlying results was disputed by campus critics of the Renew ANU savings plan across 2025, who argued the headline result demonstrated savings were not needed. ANU countered in the Annual Report that it is “a measure commonly used by Australian universities to assess a university's ability to operate sustainably.”
However, in its review of the university last week, the Australian National Audit Office warned, “ANU has no methodology or process documentation to guide finance staff to complete this work consistently from year-to-year. This raises the risk of a lack of consistency in calculations and usage from year-to-year.”
Overall, the Annual Report indicates ANU has recovered from the COVID hit it took on international student fees – the ANAO reports the university used investment income to fund operating expenses in the first year of the pandemic. But the ANAO also states the university has looked to growth in international student numbers to rebuild its finances.
Last year that was not happening. Fees paid by overseas students on campus were unchanged at $296m.
Despite statements that controversies related to the former Renew ANU restructure had damaged the university’s standing, the annual report states, “philanthropy reached a new level of scale and impact” with $71.5m “significantly exceeding original targets and continuing a trajectory of sustained growth. “
Immediately prior to the release of the Annual Report, Interim VC Rebekah Brown told staff she will brief them on the state of the university’s finances, presumably including her plans for a balanced budget in 2026.