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Tuition alone does not pay for a student's college education. While students foot the bill for lab fees and the evermore-expensive textbooks, the state government contributes thousands of dollars per student for higher education.
It is estimated that in 2009, the University System of Maryland will distribute more than $1.1 billion to state institutions to supplement tuition. These dollars go toward paying for facilities, support staff, faculty members and other categorically funded parts of a school's budget.
University of Maryland, Baltimore receives the highest rate of funding, more than $33,000 per full-time equivalent student. The professional, medical and graduate school has higher costs than other institutions, Joe Vivona, the vice chancellor for administration and finance and chief operating officer of the USM, said.
University of Maryland, College Park, a major research institution, receives more than $14,000 per FTE.
Towson, the largest comprehensive institution in the state, receives $5,663 per FTE, the second lowest figure in the System. The only institution that receives less funding than Towson is the University of Maryland, University College, a predominantly online school with costs that are mostly new technologies and faculty.
"At Towson, there is a history of underfunding, but I think I've fixed that," Vivona said. "I'm pleased with where the school's funding is now."
Institutional funding is compared against peer groups and Towson receives 87 percent of the average within their grouping, a number that Vivona considers a success.
Some faculty members, however, disagree, saying they still feel Towson does not receive adequate support. University Senate chair and economics professor Tim Sullivan said that departments are unable to attract and retain quality faculty because of the low funding figures.
"We are a victim of our own efficiency and we can be taken advantage of," Sullivan said. "Once you are in a situation where you are doing a good job and making every dollar count, stretching everything you have, the legislature has a tendency to just expect you to keep delivering in the same way."
In the last 10 years, Towson's funding per FTE has seen major ebbs and flows. Receiving just a little more than $4,000 in 1999, the school jumped to more than $5,000 per FTE in 2002, before quickly falling back to $4,264 two years later.
Since President Robert Caret's return to Towson in 2003, FTE funding has grown to an all-time high. The estimate for 2009 is more than a $400-increase above that of the current fiscal year.
According to Caret, Towson historically has higher tuition and fee costs than other USM schools, leading to an adequate funding total. Caret said his concern is finding a balance between what the state pays and what students must pay to meet the budget.
"Twenty years or so ago, we were looking for 70 percent from the state and 30 percent from the students and parents. When I got back [to Towson in 2003], it was the exact opposite," he said. "Now we are almost back up to 40 percent from the state."
Working in Towson's favor is the new enrollment funding initiative that funds each additional FTE the campus takes on at a higher level. Towson receives $5,500 per student up to a predetermined number of additional students, James Sheehan, Towson vice president of administration and finance, said.
Designated a growth institution by the state, Towson has absorbed the majority of new students within the System during the last few years and grown by more than 1,200 FTE this academic year alone. According to the USM Enrollment Projections, Towson will reach 25,000 FTE by 2012.
With impending budget cuts across the state, the USM must continue to support Towson in its growth through greater FTE funding, Sheehan said.
"From the president's perspective, if you want us to grow, you have to fund us and they have been funding our additional growth," he said. "If they are no longer going to be able to fund us, though, the growth will have to trail off. We have improved quite a bit, but we can't let it become diluted."
Faculty, such as Sullivan, are concerned that campus may "lose momentum," with the latest economic problems. After saying he has seen great improvements in the institution's funding, he still would like to see increased appropriations.
"The good news is that the funding has gone up from what it once was. It was so low for so long," Sullivan said. "It has come up because of President Caret fighting for it since we have grown. The bad news is it just hasn't gone up enough."
Within the System, research institutions, UMCP and University of Maryland, Baltimore County, receive greater funding because of higher overhead costs. Historically Black Colleges and Universities such as Coppin State, University of Maryland, Eastern Shore and Bowie State received significant funding hikes in the last decade because of a civil rights settlement that required states to spend on capital construction plans to improve the campuses, Vivona said.
Towson will receive a spike in its funding upon the opening of the College of Liberal Arts complex because of the increased operating costs of running the new building.
But among comprehensive institutions within the state, Sheehan still sees Towson as lacking. Including UMB and UMUC, the average funding per USM institution is about $10,450.
"The one question in my mind that I don't know the answer to is why is a school like Frostburg funded at $8,000 when we are at $5,000 per student? They are the same as us and much smaller," he said.
"We don't have an issue with what the other schools are getting. We'd just like to be closer to the average than we are. We'd like to have another $1,000 per FTE."
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