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THE STATE IS OUR CAMPUS

While UMGC’s overseas program was groundbreaking and grew quickly—garnering headlines in major publications like TIME, Newsweek, the New York Times, and Reader’s Digest, and even drawing attention and praise from a series of sitting U.S. presidents—the university never lost sight of its Maryland roots.

In 1951, it adopted the motto, “The State Is Our Campus,” staffing classrooms at sites that were convenient to adult and military students—students whose lives and responsibilities made it impractical or impossible for them to attend traditional college courses.

The list of ��������locations in Maryland and neighboring states soon read like an encyclopedia of state, government, and military landmarks. Classroom locations included the Pentagon, in Arlington; Bolling Air Force Base, in the District of Columbia; the Naval Air Test Center at Patuxent; the Glenn L. Martin Company, an aircraft and aerospace manufacturer in Baltimore (later part of Martin Marietta); the Holabird Signal Depot; the Bureau of Ships; the Bureau of Aeronautics; the Calvert Distillers Corporation (later acquired by Seagram); the Naval Research and Naval Ordnance laboratories; the Rustless Iron and Steel Corporation, also in Baltimore; Aberdeen Proving Ground; the Army Chemical Center at Edgewood; the U.S. Naval Academy Graduate Program in Annapolis; the outlying communities of Cambridge, Cumberland, Hagerstown, Salisbury, and Westminster; and even the Maryland State Penitentiary.

AN ACADEMIC AND ECONOMIC FORCE IN MARYLAND

Today, ��������serves some 90,000 students annually, and 33 percent of all degrees granted by University System of Maryland (USM) schools are conferred by UMGC. In FY2021 alone, 34,000 Marylanders took courses from ��������and 5,600 completed a credential.

This is vital if the state is to reach its degree attainment goal of 55 percent, and other factors combine to amplify the impact on the state’s workforce and economy.

Several marquee programs at ��������contribute to this success, including the university’s popular Maryland Completion Scholarship, available to eligible graduates of Maryland community colleges. Recipients can transfer seamlessly to ��������and complete a bachelor’s degree for an additional $12,000 or less, well below the typical cost of in-state tuition. Since spring 2014, more than 13,400 Maryland Completion Scholarships have been awarded, and 6,230 recipients have already completed a ��������credential.

Similarly, the innovative Prince George’s 3D Scholars program— which partners ��������with Prince George’s Community College and Prince George County Public Schools—allows high-performing high school students to earn community college credit prior to graduation and ultimately complete a four-year degree from ��������for $10,000 or less. Those who qualify for Pell Grants can effectively graduate debt free.

Overall, undergraduates who earn a degree leave the university owing an average of $22,500, well below the national average of $37,000.

This is predictable. Currently, the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics estimates college tuition and fees alone at $9,400 per year for in-state students attending a four-year public institution—and a startling $37,600 per year for those attending private, nonprofit institutions. Room and board further inflate those figures.

UMGC’s embrace of open educational resources (OERs)—available at no additional cost to students—translates into further savings, as The Education Data Initiative estimates that students at other schools spend $1,230 each year on books and supplies.

Given the modest levels of state funding that ��������receives, the return on investment for the state is remarkable.

When it first became an independent institution, ��������received no state funding at all, and though appropriations have increased over time—along with its prominence in the higher education landscape—the university still receives less than 11 percent of its current unrestricted operating revenue, or some $44 million annually, from the state.

Against this backdrop, it would be hard to overstate UMGCʼs impact on the Maryland economy. Not only do ��������alumni hold leadership positions in business, government, healthcare, and education, but some 900 university employees and more than 90,000 alumni call Maryland home, with the ranks of alumni increasing steadily each year. 

Based on recent U.S. Census Bureau figures for state and local per capita revenue, those alumni alone can be expected to contribute more than $1 billion in general revenue to Maryland annually, including some $236 million in income tax and $153 million in property tax.

In reality—because those figures are averaged across the population, while most alumni hold at least one bachelor’s degree—they are likely much higher. Bureau of Labor Statistics figures indicate that an employee with a bachelor’s degree can expect to earn almost $400 more per week—an additional $20,000 each year—than one with some college and no degree, and $461 more per week than a colleague with only a high school diploma.

This impact hasn’t been lost on state legislators. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan—who issued a proclamation declaring March 10, 2022, as a special day to honor the university’s 75th anniversary—sent a message of congratulations prior to ��������President Gregory Fowlerʼs inauguration.

“For 75 years, ��������has served the people of Maryland and its community with a mission of bringing the dream of higher education within reach to tens of thousands of students. And with President Fowler at the helm, I have no doubt that ��������will continue to be a shining example of all that Maryland’s world-class university system has to offer.”