Duke trustees approve $2.1 billion budget

The Duke University Board of Trustees on Saturday adopted a $2.1 billion budget for the 2011-12 fiscal year that includes merit-based raises for faculty and staff for the first time in two years.

It represents a 4.2 percent increase over the current year. It includes $133 million for financial aid for undergraduate students, about half of whom get some help with the cost of college. The budget calls for a 3.9 percent tuition increase in 2011-12.

Increased giving and returns on investment and cuts to operating costs over the past two years have improved Duke's financial standing, said Tallman Trask III, the university's executive vice president.

Trask noted that Duke reduced the number of employees in recent years through early retirement incentives and leaving some positions open.

In other action, the Board elected G. Richard Wagoner, Jr. former chairman and CEO of General Motors and a 1975 Duke graduate, to be its chairman. He succeeds Dan Blue, who filled the role from 2009-11. Wagoner has been a member of the board since 2001.

He and his wife Kathy, a 1977 Duke graduate, live in Birmingham, Mich. Their three children all went to Duke. Ttwo are recent graduates and one is a member of the Class of 2012.