UD president Dennis Assanis presented an operating budget request of $122.4 million on Friday. That's about $4 million more than the school's current general fund appropriation, which includes $10.3 million for scholarships.

UD is also seeking tens of millions of taxpayer dollars for capital expenditures, including $60 million over three years to build a new science building, and $15 million a year to help with deferred maintenance.

Assanis, who's been at the helm of UD for about six months, says the university, which has an endowment portfolio of about $1.5 billion, has a maintenance backlog of $512 million over five years.