University of Wisconsin’s Retirement Research Center Closes 

The Retirement and Disability Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is set to close this week following the Social Security Administration’s cuts to research funding that were announced in February.

J. Michael Collins, who led the university’s research center, says the center “is making final close-out paperwork this week” and is “no longer operational.” Wisconsin’s research center was the second center in the retirement and disability research consortium to close in as many weeks, after the National Bureau of Economic Research Retirement and Disability Research Center shut down last week.

The SSA cuts terminated 19 projects at the University of Wisconsin’s center, affecting 100 scholars. The cuts also led to cuts of 100 planned projects through 2029, mainly research that concerned people who rely on Social Security, such as children and people living with a disability, according to the university’s website.  

SSA’s February funding cuts were planned to result in about $15 million in cost savings, according to information released by the SSA at the time. The SSA stated that “terminating our RDRC cooperative agreements aligns with President [Donald] Trump’s priorities to end fraudulent and wasteful initiatives and contracts” and that cutting the funding continues “a focus on research addressing DEI in Social Security, retirement, and disability policy.” 

The RDRC at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, which collaborates with Brandeis University and the University of Baltimore, lost funding for at least 13 projects as a result of the SSA’s funding cuts, according to Nancy Miller, the center’s co-director.  

The cancelled research includes:  

• a proposed study examining why some disabled people who are eligible do not apply for SSI; 

• a study exploring the health care experiences of individuals receiving Social Security Disability Income during the two-year waiting period for Medicare; and  

• research exploring the impact of COVID-19 and Post-COVID Condition on people with disabilities.  

At Boston College’s RDRC, the center also had to cut projects that were about halfway completed, but it was able to secure independent funding for additional projects, according to Andrew Eschtruth, the director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. The university continues to seek more funders to fill the gap created by the cuts, according to Eschtruth. 

Despite the additional funding it has already received, the center had to cut a program supported by the SSA that supported educational training initiatives. For example, the center held competitions for junior faculty grants and dissertation fellowships, for which it does not expect to secure new funding. 

“What happens in the situation is that the agencies themselves will find it harder to get the kind of actionable insights that they need to inform their own decisionmaking and help policymakers in Washington,” Eschtruth says. “That’s a loss to the public.” 

The RDRCs at the University of Michigan and at Baruch College in New York were also affected by the funding cuts, but the schools did not respond to requests for comment. The University of Michigan, Baruch College and the UMBC centers have not had new research posted to their websites, and their social media accounts are either deleted or inactive.  

Although the federal cuts have reduced funding for retirement research, collaboration among research centers can help secure future support. 

Bridget Bearden, a research and development strategist and member of the leadership team at the Employee Benefit Research Institute, says EBRI is “monitoring the recent changes in research funding” and that “EBRI is open to research collaborations that align with our commitment to improving retirement security and financial well-being for workers and their families by expanding access to employer-sponsored benefits.”