ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A newly released legislative audit raises oversight and accountability concerns over taxpayer dollars at University of Maryland College Park.
The audit delved into the university's finances between January 2021 and January 2024.
In fiscal year 2024 alone, the college received $769.4 million in state funding, making up a good portion of their overall $2.8 billion in revenue.
As of June 2024, the audit found the university had 5,300 open research grants worth $763.5 million.
Auditors flagged a couple problems with how the college goes about awarding and paying out grants.
The university allegedly failed to properly review costly invoices for completed work on grant projects, sometimes resulting in over payments.
"For example, one invoice included $57,388 in direct labor for one employee at an hourly rate of $243.17 while the grant agreement hourly rate was $117.58," the audit states.
In response, the university acknowledged confusion, but said the auditors interpretation was misunderstood.
"The rate of $117.58 represented the raw rate and $243.17 represented the fully burdened rate," the college said. "We recognize that this caused confusion, and we regret that the subject matter experts best positioned to explain this detail were not part of the initial discussion."
On top of that, the school often awarded contracts without any competitive process, all while failing to justify what they were for actually for.
"One of these awards totaling $2.2 million was to an entity owned by a [university] faculty member, thereby having a direct financial relationship," the audit stated.
Here's how the school summed up their process.
"The selection of subrecipients is based on their ability to carry out a portion of the federal program and achieve its objectives. This involves evaluating their qualifications, experience, and capability to perform the work required under the federal award. Subrecipients are included in the proposal and subject to review by the sponsor, which ultimately determines whether to grant the award."
The audit comes at a time when the University System of Maryland as a whole expresses displeasure with upcoming funding cuts.
Despite receiving $870 million in state funding during fiscal year 2025, plus another $483 million from the federal government, the University System's Board of Regents approved employee furloughs and salary reductions.
The General Assembly was forced to reduce the universities 2026 budget due to the state's rising deficit.
Likewise, the federal government is also canceling some grants totaling millions.
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