Delaware’s institutions of higher education made their pitches for funding bumps to the Joint Committee on Capital Improvement.
University of Delaware
The University of Delaware's recently confirmed president, Laura Carlson, asked lawmakers to give the state's largest university more capital funding to support its plans to expand in the southern part of the state.
Gov. Meyer’s recommended budget included $16.5 million of UD's $25 million ask for the effort.
At the bond bill hearing, Carlson asked the committee to approve additional dollars. She asked for approximately $5 million, for upgrades at the school’s Sharp campus in Lewes.
And she asked for another $3 million to expand and upgrade the Franklin Daber residents complex there. Carlson said the university envisions growing the complex to a mix of workforce and student housing.
"The complex is dated and insufficient to support the expansions in our academic programs," she told the committee.
The complex includes twenty-eight two and three bedroom ranch-style homes, housing grad and undergraduate students studying at UD’s Sharp Research Lab.
The school’s downstate expansion includes a bachelors-level teaching program, marine science, a healthcare clinic, and nurse partitioner program.
Delaware State University
Delaware State University also asked lawmakers for a boost to its allocation in the state's Bond Bill.
Gov. Matt Meyer’s recommended capital budget calls for DSU to receive $26.5 million for its new athletic complex and training center, along with other campus improvements and maintenance.
DSU President Tony Allen told the Bond Bill committee the university would like another $18.5 million for work on stadium and home team facilities, press box replacement, and event infrastructure.
"We'll need your support to complete the deal," he said. "...So let's call it, we're on the 20 (yard line), we need to get to the end zone."
Allen said the university hopes to finish phase 1 of the athletic facility’s development by 2028.
DSU’s total capital request is $45 million, with $25 million for athletics and $20 million for deferred maintenance.
The state gave Delaware State $30 million in its capital budget last year, two-thirds of which went to the athletic facility’s expansion.
