NEWARK — The University of Delaware is bracing for harsh headwinds as the state’s largest university reported that there will be no congressionally directed spending in the near future, as well as the greater unknown when it comes to other federal funding sources.
“It’s particularly challenging for the University of Delaware right now. In the past nine years, we have tripled our research expenditure volume, and we’ve geared up to perform at this level with new facilities,” President Dennis Assanis told the Board of Trustees last week.
The special trustees meeting came as the Trump administration continues its rapid rework of how the federal government works, including slashing funding for research institutions, capping “facilities and administrative costs” and opening investigations for alleged “racial preferences” for academic scholarships.
UD just opened Building X, a 132,500 square foot research facility focused on the cutting-edge of science studies, in January. Weeks later, UD estimated it could see around $40 million in cuts if the National Institutes of Health (NIH) capped “facilities and administrative” costs to 15%. The university currently has a 60% reimbursement rate.
While the policy has been temporarily paused, Assanis noted that UD would stand to lose $12 million a year on NIH-funded contracts. If other federal agencies followed, that number would rise to $40 million.
“These are significant dollars, we critically depend on those to recoup expenses and [for] the operating budget for federal administrative expenses… we’re obviously concerned about what the future would bring,” he said.
There’s also been wide-spread delays in approving the funding from the NIH, but UD officials report there are some signs that it’s resuming. The impact would be at least a six-month delay to award funding, resulting in some gaps.
The UD President also noted there would be “close to zero” chance for congressional spending earmarks, a process that ended in 2011 and was restored in 2021. UD had requested $10 million to buy equipment for the future Securing American Biomanufacturing Research and Education (SABRE) Center at the University of Delaware, according to Spotlight Delaware.
SABRE will work in concert with the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL) Center at the STAR Campus to help scale up and refine emerging technologies. NIIMBL had also requested $4 million.
Meanwhile, UD Vice President for Research, Scholarship and Innovation Miguel Garcia-Diaz said that there are several applications filed by principal investigators of grants that are being questioned by investigators on whether the funding would be “supporting diversity, equity & inclusion” activities.
“The problem is, they have not defined exactly what DE&I means, and so that has caused concern, fear and confusion as to exactly what [investigators] can do,” Garcia-Diaz told the board.
UD estimates that it has $2 million in contracts funded right now, and there are at least five stop-work orders issued right now.
Greater uncertainties also continue with Trump’s plan to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education and what that means for the thousands of UD students on Pell Grants as well as financial aid packages.
Still, Assanis reported some bright spots for the university, like the record setting number of applications. UD is on track to receive 41,000 applications, breaking the record for a sixth year in a row.
“Obviously I think we work hard to create our luck, if you will, the investments in academic excellence, investments in research innovation, the star campus, you know, everything we’ve done is really driving that interest,” he said.
