Duke Trustees Approve FY 2015-16 Budget

The Duke University Board of Trustees on Saturday approved a $2.3 billion operating budget for Fiscal Year 2015-16 that provides for strategic investments in select programs, initiatives and building projects.

The operating budget, which covers the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2015, reflects 3.6 percent growth from FY 2014-15. The budget includes the School of Medicine and the School of Nursing, but excludes Duke Hospital and other clinical components of the Duke University Health System.

The trustees also approved the FY 2015-16 capital budget, which includes planned investments of $494 million for major projects that include a new Student Health and Wellness Center, a new engineering and physics facility, renovations to the R. David Thomas Center and ongoing renovations of the West Campus Union, Perkins Library and Wallace Wade Stadium.

The budget includes an anticipated 3.6 percent increase in institutional financial aid for undergraduate students, with university support growing to $137 million.

In addition, the university budget anticipates nearly $11 million of additional external support from federal, state and other outside sources for scholarships and need-based aid to students. About half of undergraduates receive financial support to attend Duke, the vast majority of which is need-based aid. The average aid awarded to need-based aid recipients in the current academic year was about $42,000.

Duke is among a handful of schools that maintains a need-blind admissions policy, under which the university accepts U.S. undergraduates based on their academic accomplishments and potential without regard to their ability to pay, and then meets all of their demonstrated financial need.

In other business, the trustees:

-- met in downtown Durham, where they discussed with university and community leaders the opportunities and challenges in Durham, and in particular Duke’s role in addressing issues related to education, biomedical research and economic development. Among those participating in the meeting were Durham Mayor Bill Bell; Bob Geolas, president and CEO of the Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina; and Adam Klein, chief strategist of American Underground, the startup incubator in downtown Durham.

-- approved the awarding of degrees to undergraduate, graduate and professional students. Commencement, including an address by global health leader Dr. Paul Farmer, begins at 9 a.m. Sunday in the Durham Bulls Athletic Park (DBAP) and is open to the public. Commencement was moved to DBAP because of ongoing renovations to Wallace Wade Stadium.