Office of Government and Community Affairs

Speak Up for UMB – The Message: Assure access to an affordable, quality professional and graduate education at UMB

The University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) is the State's public academic health and law university dedicated to professional and graduate education, research, patient care, and public service. Our professional schools are all rated among the very best in the nation!

We must ensure that we have the capacity to:

• Retain and enhance the reputation of our schools;
• Attract and retain outstanding faculty and students of the highest caliber of diverse backgrounds:
• Build on our outstanding research achievements leading the way to new discoveries, cures, and positive social change:
• Educate a professional work force that meets the health care and legal needs of our citizens: and
• Provide access to our patient care and community outreach programs for poor and underserved citizens throughout Maryland.
  

Because of a large State budget deficit over the past several years:

• The State appropriation for UMB has dropped by about $25 million, from $157.3 million in FY 2002 to $132.5 million in FY 2004 (a reduction of about 16%).
• Since FY 1990, the State appropriation per FTE (full time equivalent student) for UMB has actually decreased by almost 1% per year.

Yet the campus has and continues to face mandatory cost increases, in such areas as fringe benefits, utilities, debt service, and salary increases for faculty and employees, etc. This difficult fiscal situation has resulted in cutbacks and reallocations of spending throughout the campus and higher than anticipated increases in tuition and fees.
At the 2004 Session of the Maryland General Assembly, the Governor and legislature face a State budget deficit of over $ 700 million in FY 2005 and over $ 1.3 billion in FY 2006. It is vital that our elected officials hear from us about the consequences of further reductions and the need for additional support for UMB, as they consider future State budget needs. Only the Governor can request funds in the State-operating budget. By constitution, state legislators cannot add funds to the operating budget; they can only cut or restrict use of state funds. They appreciate hearing from you!

UMB fills a unique niche:
Access to an affordable, quality higher education is essential to Maryland, if our State is to maintain a highly educated, diverse workforce, remain as one of the wealthiest states in the nation, and restore momentum to our economy. In particular, UMB plays a unique role in that we educate the largest single share of healthcare and legal professionals in this State.

• UMB awards 54% of all professional degrees in MD.
• UMB meets 40% of the MD workforce demand in the occupations for which we train.
  

We are proud that over 34% of our student population is minorities and 83% of our students are pursuing advanced professional and graduate degrees to serve the health care and legal needs of our citizens. However, the outstanding debt of UMB students is rapidly growing to burden levels that will prevent access to programs, and exacerbate the workforce shortages that already exist. We must be able to attract a stream of bright, diverse students to be our future pharmacists, nurses and nurse educators, dentists and dental hygienists, primary and specialty care physicians, medical technologists, and social workers (see chart with average debt levels). These programs are intense and expensive, but we cannot afford to deny access to talented students and we cannot afford to ignore the workforce needs in Maryland.

UMB has moved aggressively to become extraordinarily entrepreneurial. Two-thirds of UMB revenues are derived from research and patient care. Tuition & fees only generate 9% of revenues and the State appropriation represents just 21% of revenues. We have expanded our entrepreneurial revenue stream to help support the cost of our education, research, and patient care missions:

• In FY 2003 - UMB was awarded $324 million in grants & contracts. These revenues have quadrupled since FY 1990, when we attained $80 million;
• This represents nearly $ 500,000 research dollars per core faculty;
  UMB Return on Investment:
  • UMB generates 19,000 jobs with earnings of $595 million and $1.7 billion in economic activity;
  • UMB yields $12 in economic activity for each $1 the State appropriates; and
  • Over the past 5 years, UMB has licensed 60 technologies to companies & our faculty members have created 24 businesses.

Moreover, UMB has a long tradition of service and caring. Through an extensive network of programs, UMB students, faculty and staff provide over 2 million hours of patient care and community service annually to citizens throughout MD. Each of our schools plays a vital role in the care of our citizens and we provide an extensive amount of uncompensated care to our poorer and underserved citizens:
Medicine:

• Only School of Medicine faculty admit patients to UMMC hospital -29,000/yr
• 190,000 Patients or 630,000 Patient visits/yr
• Uncompensated Care: Over $19 Million/yr

Dental:

• Only dental school in MD & largest provider of oral health services to Medicaid children/HIV patients
• 35,000 Patients & 122,000 Patient visits per year
• Uncompensated Care: Over $2.5 Million per year

Nursing:

• Wellmobile-4,000 Patient visits/yr
• Open Gates-5,000 Patients visits/yr
• Services @ 14 School- based clinics

Pharmacy:

• MD Poison Center: 60,000 calls per year
• 1,000 Patients served in 7 clinics for Mental Health/ Developmentally Disabled

Social Work:

• 400 social workers provide 500,000 hours of care to MD citizens
  

Law:

• Pro bono legal services valued at over $ 3 million for the underserved

UMB has much of which to be proud! We must assure access to an affordable, quality professional and graduate education at UMB.

As the founding institution of the University of Maryland in 1807, the tradition for outstanding teaching and patient care began at UMB. Our extensive network of service programs brings health care, social services, and legal advice to countless citizens throughout Maryland. We educate the majority of dentists, lawyers, nurses, pharmacists, physicians, and social workers who practice in Maryland. We are at the forefront of driving solutions to solve work force shortages in health care and public interest areas. State funding must be sufficient to assure this tradition continues.

What you can do to help:
If you are a student, graduate or friend of UMB, we need your action! We have a great legacy of service and need you to lend your strong support for the University. Our state officials need to hear your voice and desire for sufficient funding for UMB. The message is simple: Assure access to an affordable, quality professional and graduate education at UMB

To find out how you can become involved and work for positive change for the University, see the "How to Make Your Voice Heard in Annapolis" or contact the Office of Government and Community Affairs by email at: govaffairs@oeamail.umaryland.edu or by telephone at 410-269-5087.

If you send an e-mail, please include the following in the body:

• Name
• Phone number
• University affiliation (student, donor, alumnus, faculty, staff or other friend)
• E-mail address

Thank you for your support!

Making An Impact since 1807