University of Maryland Office of the President

Executive Summary: Delivering the Promises

Accomplishments and Initiatives

Future Steps

Conclusion: A University for the Next 100 Years

Response to Department of Legislative Services Analysis

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Part II. Delivering the Promises

Funding National Eminence and Affordable Access to Quality

The progress of the University toward achieving national eminence is remarkable considering its historical funding at levels below State guidelines. For more than a decade, State Appropriations have been at least $3,000 per student below the State guideline for the campus. The guideline is based on the average State Appropriation of the University's peers. (For list of peers, see p. 7.) In FY04 this deficit per student was $3,900, which, for 31,000 Full-Time Equivalents (FTES), would require more than $120 million additional annual operating expenditures to reach peer average support. Including increases in the state-supported budget, Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC) projects the deficit per student to be $3,573 in FY06, which is a $110 million shortfall. Under these funding circumstances, fulfillment of either promise is unlikely.

The proposed FY07 budget request for the General Fund appropriation and the 4.5% tuition increase will begin to close the funding gap. If the budget is fully funded, the deficit per student is expected to decrease from $3,573 in FY06 to $2,425 in FY07, which results in a $75 million shortfall. Our intent should be to eliminate the remaining shortfall to provide peer average funding over a four-year transition period. That would provide the appropriate resources to offer affordable access for resident students, and attain national academic eminence and a top-10 ranking for the Flagship University simultaneously. It also would fulfill the State's mandate established two decades earlier.



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Office of the President, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742