In the wake of its worst year for accepted scholarship offers, the Angier B. Duke Memorial scholarship program may have to deal with a lack of secure funding.
The program, which has an annual budget of nearly $1.3 million, does not have enough of an endowment to support it at its current level, said Susan Ross, associate dean and director of development for Trinity College of Arts and Sciences.
The program currently receives more than one-fifth of its money from the University's operating budget, money which could be in danger of being cut, Ross said.
"Budgets are now tight across the board [at the University]," she said. "Any expensive program on the operating budget is going to be looked at carefully."
The program receives the remainder of its annual budget from two special endowment funds. The Angier B. Duke Memorial Scholarship Endowment Fund supplies the program with approximately $270,000 annually, while the Angier B. Duke Memorial Fund, a division of the Duke Endowment, pays off the remaining $460,000.
The only additional source of funding for the program comes from individual donations, but these have been scarce. "Efforts have been made to get former A.B. Duke students to support the program, but they have met with limited success," Ross said.
Last year, several A.B. Duke students joined together to start a newsletter intended to help generate support for the program. Several hundred copies of the newsletter's first issue were printed but were never sent out because of a miscommunication involving the development office, said Alison Meekhof, Trinity '95 and a member of the A.B. Duke advisory committee.
"There is not even an awareness on the part of alumni that there is a problem," Meekhoff said.
Whether or not the program continues to receive University funds may depend on the federal government's decision to cut financial aid grants.
"The University has set its priorities for need-based financial aid rather than merit-based aid," she said.
Other University officials also said that providing need-based aid is the University's primary commitment. "We are absolutely committed to meeting full need, and I don't expect that to change," said James Belvin, director of undergraduate financial aid.
Christoph Guttentag, director of undergraduate admissions, said that need-based programs were very beneficial to the University, but emphasized the added value of merit-based programs like A.B. Duke.
Without the A.B. Duke program it would be more difficult for the University to attract the types of students who are granted A.B. Duke scholarships, Guttentag said. "Duke does benefit from having them on campus."
But with or without the A.B. Duke program, the University is already attracting high-quality students with the need-based program, he said.
Belvin said that despite the University's struggle to maintain all financial aid programs and the fact that need-based programs must come first, there is currently no plan to cut any merit-based programs.
Changes, however, will be made in the management levels of the program.
Within the office of university development, there would be a shift in the duties of responsibility. The program will no longer be managed in central development but instead will receive greater attention in Arts and Sciences development, Ross said.
Despite the transition, Ross said the program will not be her department's only concern. "There are currently 45 different programs handled by only two people," she said. The office will gain one more staff member in July.
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