The University of Delaware owns nearly 35 percent of the untaxed property in Newark but is exempt from paying property taxes. City officials want to tax the university $50 per student, per semester. The chaos of the post-pandemic economy has reached both the University of Delaware and the surrounding city of Newark. And it’s made the college town the latest stage for a long-standing debate about the financial contours of town-gown relationships.
Nonprofit universities often pay the towns that host them in lieu of property tax. Students say selective institutions with big endowments should do more. Two Ivy League universities recently renewed agreements to voluntarily pay their surrounding cities sizable sums to help compensate for the fact that, as nonprofits, they don’t pay property taxes. And while some community members see the payments as generous and beneficial, students are among their harshest critics, arguing that the wealthy universities are capable of paying their host cities much more.