4:50 p.m., Feb. 27, 2003--While recognizing the limitations placed on state finances by the current economic situation, UD President David P. Roselle told legislators Wednesday, Feb. 26, that any additional cuts in state funding in the future could result in tuition increases. 

Roselle made his remarks to the General Assembly’s Joint Finance Committee in Legislative Hall in Dover.

“If you make further cuts in our budget, we’re going to have to raise tuition to make up the difference,” Roselle said. “This will be necessary to remain competitive in attracting and retaining the best faculty and staff, as well as providing the best in research and library services. We know you do not want to cut the University’s budget, and I assure you that we do not want to raise tuition more than the minimum amount necessary to operate at our current level.”

Funding from the state for the current fiscal year of $104 million accounts for about 19 percent of UD’s total operating budget of $544 million. 

While external funding from contracts and grants have nearly tripled from $47 million in fiscal year 1991 to a projected $130 million in the current fiscal year, Roselle said, such funding is subject to specified restrictions on how it can be used. The same is true for most of the gifts received by the University.

“There is simply no source of income other than tuition that provides the same flexibility as does the annual state appropriation in meeting the ongoing operational needs of the University,” Roselle said. 

Roselle told the legislators that financial aid from all sources at UD has tripled from $30 million in 1992-93 to $90 million in 2002-03. 

“Over the past decade, the University’s commitment to reducing unmet financial needs for Delaware residents has helped assure that no Delaware student seeking a University education will be turned away for financial reasons,” Roselle said. He said that the level of financial aid was the result of state support of financial aid special lines and because of UD’s success in soliciting private support for scholarships and “prudent fiscal management that enabled reallocation of resources in a manner consistent with our planning priorities.”

One of the planning initiatives undertaken in the early 1990s, he said, was to make UD a service-oriented institution for students, where their full range of educational and social needs would be addressed.

An example of this commitment, Roselle said, is the Student Services Building, which he described as a one-stop service location where students can register for courses, secure financial aid, pay tuition bills, obtain transcripts, dining cards and a host of other services through innovative use of technology.

“The use of web-based technology has enabled us to create a student service function wherein students are able to address their needs with a few keystrokes on a computer,” Roselle said. “The re-engineering process also has enabled us to eliminate duplicative services and personnel and to streamline and enhance our service to students.”

UD’s Student Services Building has become a national model, he said, that is visited annually by dozens of other colleges and universities.

Roselle also answered legislators’ questions about the accessibility of a UD education for Delaware residents.

“Approximately, four out of five college-bound high school seniors in Delaware apply to the University of Delaware,” Roselle said.

“Seventy percent of Delaware residents who apply to UD are accepted to the UD campus,” Roselle said. “Fifteen percent have access to the Parallel Program and the remaining 15 percent are turned down because they are not projected to succeed.

“UD admits and enrolls a higher percentage of in-state students than any other flagship, state-assisted university in the region,” he said. “UD also receives more applications from nonresidents than any other public university in America.”

The commitment to creating a student-centered environment, while maintaining UD’s physical plant, was among several achievements cited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education accreditation review team in 2000. 

UD was among the first institutions nationally to be accredited by the group after it was founded in 1921 and has been continuously accredited since that time. The accreditation process consists of a self-study conducted by the institution and a campus visit by an independent evaluation team.

In its report, the evaluation team said, “UD has done an extraordinary job of building and creating facilities which support the use of technology in all aspects of the University’s mission. UD’s investment and commitment to a sophisticated technology infrastructure along with the appropriate support services has facilitated the infusion of technology throughout the campus culture.”

Roselle told legislators that the results of this infusion of technology can be seen the UD library system, where a serious investment in electronic resources provides a rich assortment of databases and electronic journals.

Should the state’s current economic situation improve, Roselle said that UD would ask for $736,400 for scholarship support and $500,000 for library materials. 

“We know what the state’s economic situation is, and we are sensitive to this,” Roselle said. “We also are grateful to the governor and the General Assembly for the state support that has allowed UD to offer an extraordinary education at a bargain price.”

Article by Jerry Rhodes