Delaware

University of Delaware students struggling with housing cost and limited availability, according to new study

Published

10 months ago

February 12, 2025

University of Delaware students struggling with housing cost and limited availability, according to new study

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Across the country, universities are grappling with a worsening student housing crisis. Rising rents, limited on-campus accommodations and increasing enrollment have left many students struggling to secure affordable housing.

In Boston, nearly 70% of students at Boston University and Northeastern live off-campus, often competing with long-term city residents for space. In California, the University of California system has faced lawsuits over housing shortages. And at Temple University in Philadelphia, some students have been left with no choice but to sleep in cars due to a lack of affordable housing options.

The University of Delaware is no exception. With a growing student population and an increasing reliance on off-campus housing, many students — particularly graduate students — are facing mounting financial pressures.

A study conducted in 2024 by Abdulrasheed Dawodu, a UD alumnus, examined the struggles of African graduate students at the university. The findings revealed that over 80% of respondents spend more than 30% of their income on housing, while 46% pay more than half of their income on rent. That makes them what HUD classifies as “extremely cost-burdened.”

“That’s quite alarming,” Dawodu said. “We need to understand some of the peculiarities about the African students. One, they are limited by the number of hours they could work. Based on their contract, they could only work on campus and they could only work 20 hours a week on campus.”

But the issue isn’t new. Housing constraints at UD have been decades in the making.

UD’s housing problem did not start overnight

There was a time when finding a dorm at UD wasn’t as difficult as it is today. In the 1950s, the university built enough dormitories to house 60% of its undergraduate students. However, between 1972 and 1991, no new dorms were constructed, even as enrollment increased. Today, only 38% of undergraduates live on campus, leaving thousands to find housing in Newark’s increasingly competitive rental market.

“The school had a policy of not building additional on-campus housing for students,” Dawodu said. “The policy was just to only rehabilitate what was available, and what was available could only house about 38% of even the undergraduate students.”

The university’s decision to reduce its on-campus housing stock by 1,900 beds in recent years has further compounded the issue. One of the most notable losses was Christiana Towers, a high-rise complex that once housed hundreds of students.

“The apartment [complex] was being considered to be used as, I think they wanted to make it like a garden. That’s good from an environmental standpoint,” Dawodu said. “If the school is not expanding, and the available [dorm buildings] get demolished and used for something else without actually replacing [them], to me, I think that’s not the most efficient strategy at that time given the fact that housing is insufficient for the students.”

Christiana Towers has remained vacant since its closure in 2019. Some students and alumni argue that repurposing the complex into affordable housing could help alleviate the student housing crunch.

UD officials say the towers are no longer viable for student living and will be demolished in the near future.

“We are moving towards demolition of those buildings. They will come down,” José-Luis Riera, UD’s Vice President for Student Life, confirmed. “We really assess that the buildings could no longer provide the high-quality experience … that we want all of our residence halls to have.”

“We are identifying what sites exist on campus for new residential projects,” he said. “That’s certainly potentially one of them, but we haven’t gotten as far as conceptualizing what that project might look like at this point.”

The lack of a concrete replacement plan has left some students wondering whether UD’s housing strategy is keeping pace with student needs.

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Delaware

Delaware Lottery Mega Millions, Play 3 Day winning numbers for Dec. 16, 2025

Published

3 hours ago

December 17, 2025

Press Room

Delaware Lottery Mega Millions, Play 3 Day winning numbers for Dec. 16, 2025

The Delaware Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big. Here’s a look at Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025 results for each game:

Winning Mega Millions numbers from Dec. 16 drawing

20-24-46-59-65, Mega Ball: 07

Check Mega Millions payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Play 3 numbers from Dec. 16 drawing

Day: 7-1-2

Night: 0-1-8

Check Play 3 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Play 4 numbers from Dec. 16 drawing

Day: 5-5-8-3

Night: 4-2-6-8

Check Play 4 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Multi-Win Lotto numbers from Dec. 16 drawing

10-21-22-24-26-33

Check Multi-Win Lotto payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Lucky For Life numbers from Dec. 16 drawing

03-04-19-24-39, Lucky Ball: 11

Check Lucky For Life payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Play 5 numbers from Dec. 16 drawing

Day: 6-6-3-8-7

Night: 8-7-0-5-4

Check Play 5 payouts and previous drawings here.

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your lottery prize

Sign the Ticket: Establish legal ownership by signing the back of your ticket with an ink pen.
Prizes up to $599: Claim at any Delaware Lottery Retailer, in person at the Delaware Lottery Office, or mail your signed ticket and claim form; print your name/address on the ticket’s back and keep a copy/photo for records. By mail, send original tickets and documentation to: Delaware Lottery, 1575 McKee Road, Suite 102, Dover, DE 19904.
Prizes up to $2,500: Claim in person at Delaware Lottery Retailer Claim Centers throughout Kent, Sussex and New Castle Counties.
Prizes of $5,001 or more: Claim in person at the Delaware Lottery Office (business days 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.) with a photo ID and Social Security card.
For all prize claims, directions to the Delaware Lottery Office are available online or via mapquest.com for a map.

Check previous winning numbers and payouts at Delaware Lottery.

Can I claim a jackpot prize anonymously in Delaware?

Fortunately for First State residents, the Delaware Lottery allows winners remain anonymous. Unlike many other states that require a prize be over a certain jackpot, Delawareans can remain anonymous no matter how much, or how little, they win.

How long do I have to claim my prize in Delaware?

Tickets are valid for up to one year past the drawing date for drawing game prizes or within one year of the announced end of sales for Instant Games, according to delottery.com.

When are the Delaware Lottery drawings held?

Powerball: 10:59 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
Mega Millions: 11:00 p.m. on Tuesday and Friday.
Play 3, 4: Daily at 1:58 p.m. and 7:57 p.m., except Sunday afternoon.
Multi-Win Lotto: 7:57 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Lucky for Life: Daily at 10:38 p.m.
Lotto America: 11:00 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday

Missed a draw? Peek at the past week’s winning numbers.

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Delaware Online digital operations manager. You can send feedback using this form.

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Delaware

Trump will go to Delaware for the dignified transfer of the 2 National Guard members killed in Syria

Published

15 hours ago

December 16, 2025

Press Room

Trump will go to Delaware for the dignified transfer of the 2 National Guard members killed in Syria

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is traveling to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Wednesday for a dignified transfer for the two Iowa National Guard members killed in an attack in the Syrian desert that is testing the rapprochement between Washington and Damascus.

The two guardsmen killed in the attack on Saturday were Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25, of Des Moines, and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, of Marshalltown, according to the U.S. Army. Both were members of the 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry Regiment. A U.S. civilian working as an interpreter was also killed.

The ritual at Dover Air Force Base honors U.S. service members killed in action and is one of the most solemn duties undertaken by the commander in chief.

During the process, transfer cases draped with the American flag holding the remains of fallen soldiers are carried from the military aircraft that carried them to Dover to an awaiting vehicle to transport them to the mortuary facility at the base. There, the fallen service members are prepared for their final resting place.

Trump, a Republican, said during his first term that witnessing the dignified transfer of service members’ remains is “the toughest thing I have to do” as president.

Remembered as ‘the best of Iowa’

The Iowa National Guard is remembering the two men as heroes. Howard’s stepfather, Jeffrey Bunn, said Howard “loved what he was doing and would be the first in and last out,” noting that he had wanted to be a soldier since he was a young boy.

In a post on the Meskwaki Nation Police Department’s Facebook page, Bunn – who is chief of the Tama, Iowa, department – called Howard a loving husband and an “amazing man of faith” and said Howard’s brother, a staff sergeant in the Iowa National Guard, would escort “Nate” back to Iowa.

Torres-Tovar was remembered as a “very positive” person who was family oriented and someone who always put others first, according to fellow guardsmen who were deployed with Torres-Tovar and issued a statement to the local TV broadcast station WOI.

“They were dedicated professionals and cherished members of our Guard family who represented the best of Iowa,” said Maj. Gen. Stephen Osborn, adjutant general of the Iowa National Guard.

Trump stands by Syrian leader al-Sharaa

On Saturday, Trump told reporters that he was mourning the deaths and vowed retaliation.

Trump said Monday that he remained confident in the leadership of interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the onetime leader of an Islamic insurgent group who led the ouster of former President Bashar Assad, whose family had an iron grip on Syrian rule for decades.

The U.S. president welcomed al-Sharaa to Washington last month for a historic visit to the White House and formally welcomed Syria as a member of the U.S.-led coalition to fight the Islamic State group. Hundreds of U.S. troops are deployed in eastern Syria as part of a coalition fighting IS.

“This had nothing to do with him,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday. “This had to do with ISIS.”

Three other members of the Iowa National Guard were injured in the attack. As of Monday, two were in stable condition and the other in good condition. The Pentagon has not identified them.

Trump traveled to Dover several times during his first term to honor the fallen, including for a U.S. Navy SEAL killed during a raid in Yemen, for two Army officers whose helicopter crashed in Afghanistan and for two Army soldiers killed in Afghanistan when a person dressed in an Afghan army uniform opened fire.

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Delaware

Delaware will save more than $300M after federal tax decoupling takes effect

Published

1 day ago

December 16, 2025

Press Room

Delaware will save more than 0M after federal tax decoupling takes effect

The fiscal year 2027 forecast remained relatively flat from the October meeting. But some expenses declined, including salaries for teachers. Brian Maxwell, state director of Management and Budget, said teacher salary expenses were down because student enrollment has dropped. He said federal immigration policy could be impacting the state’s Multilingual Learners.

“Obviously, there have been a number of students that may not be showing up to class just because of the enforcement of [Immigration and Customs Enforcement],” he said. “So some of the families may be scared to actually send their kids to school.”

Maxwell said overall enrollment is down, but the number of students needing special education services is up. The next student count is in February.

DEFAC members also discussed the revised Healthcare Spending benchmark. In September, the subcommittee devised a methodology that only used healthcare inflation, resulting in a 7.13% for 2026.

“We all gathered in October and there was a fair amount of concern with that outcome,” said Christen Linke Young, director of Health and Social Services. “So the subcommittee reconvened earlier this month to consider a new approach.”

After adopting the methodology using expected national inflation data and a three-year measure of health care cost growth, the benchmark now sits at 4.9%. But Young said there would be no penalty for hospitals exceeding the guideline.

Gov. Meyer and the state’s largest nongovernmental employer, ChristianaCare Health System, reached an agreement earlier this year in a lawsuit the regional hospital system filed last year. The Diamond State Hospital Cost Review Board was created by lawmakers in June 2024 to try to rein in hospital spending. But the agreement, which requires new legislation and the governor’s signature, would strip the board of its authority to approve and modify hospital budgets.

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