Delaware State University Interim President Wilma Mishoe made her pitch for more state dollars to lawmakers Thursday.
Mishoe told the budget writing Joint Finance Committees if additional funding isn’t available DSU may consider raising tuition.
“Tuition revenue is one of our biggest revenue sources, so that would be one of the first things you would look that," she said. "Another would be as I said would be recruiting more students from out-of-state who pay a higher tuition rate. Worst case scenario, we might even have to look at perhaps layoffs or furloughs.”
DSU is asking for about $42 million, an increase of around 7 million over last year. Mishoe said that includes additional funds for Inspire scholarships, matching land grant funding and salary increases.
Mishoe wants the state to expand the Inspire scholarship from three years to all four years. Students have to maintain certain grade point averages and fulfill other requirements to keep the scholarships.
Mishoe also hopes the state will restore the more than $670,000 DSU had cut from its budget last year.
Lawmakers used a combination of cuts and tax increases to overcome a more than $300 million budget shortfall.
