Financial resources remain one of the two most serious issues facing the department and the university. The department's situation is starkly indicated by a figure from the National Study of Instructional Costs and Productivity conducted by the University of Delaware.
Key issues involve compensation for faculty and staff as well as available operating funds.
In 1992, the department identified salary equity as one of the key resource issues facing the department. Today, that issue remains the central resource question for the department. In 1994-95 the department conduct a thorough salary review, developed an equity ladder as a means of identifying the most pressing cases of salary inequity in the department. The department head presented the results to the dean's office and to the Personnel Office, and they, in turn, lobbied for equity funds within the central administration. In the 2000 legislature, the university was successful in securing a small amount of money to begin to address salary equity issues, and the legislature promised that money would be appropriated in subsequent years for this purpose.