Excerpt from the Dayton Daily News
A group of community leaders are trying to shield Wright State University’s sole branch campus from trouble facing the main campus.
As Wright State’s main campus has been plagued by scandal, financial issues and legal problems, the Lake Campus has remained a bright spot for the university.
Jared Ebbing and others in the Celina area, about 80 miles north of Dayton, are hoping to keep the Lake Campus on that positive trajectory. Ebbing, Mercer County’s community economic development director, is one of several area leaders seeking to keep any revenue generated by the branch on its campus instead of it flowing into the university’s general fund.
“We are part of Wright State, but at the same time you don’t want to have their difficulties,” Ebbing said. “It’s our impression that a fair amount of money has gone down from this campus to the Dayton campus.”
The Lake Campus operates on its own budget and is funded through its own revenue streams, which are also separate from the main campus, former dean Jay Albayyari said in 2017.
The Lake Campus lost $226,000 in fiscal year 2018, which ended June 30, 2018 and is the most recent year for which data is available, said spokesman Seth Bauguess. WSU estimates it will cost more than $11.4 million to run the branch this year, according to a fiscal year 2020 budget proposal.
The Lake Campus is considered one of the university’s 10 colleges or schools and functions like “any other academic department” at the university, Bauguess said via email.
