Lawsuit Seeks Billions for UMES Funding Gap

Maryland students weighing the University of Maryland Eastern Shore should know a federal suit now seeks major state relief for the campus.

Updated on Nov. 14, 2026 in Financial Aid

Lawsuit Seeks Billions for UMES Funding Gap

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Do you think Maryland has fairly funded its historically Black public universities?

ForUMES, a group advocating for the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, filed a lawsuit on October 26 in U.S. District Court in Maryland against Gov. Wes Moore and several University System of Maryland and Maryland Higher Education Commission officials. The complaint seeks billions of dollars in relief for UMES, which the group says has been deliberately underfunded.

Why it matters

The suit argues that UMES, a land-grant institution since 1890, was meant to be a separate but equal college and has not received comparable state support. For Maryland students weighing public options, the case raises questions about how state funding per student shapes tuition, programs and the value of a degree at a historically Black land-grant university.

State funding per full-time equivalent UMES student was $19,640 in fiscal 2022 and rose above $26,000 in each of the next three fiscal years, according to the complaint. The lawsuit seeks billions of dollars in relief, and no court has yet ruled on the claim.

The players

University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES)

A public historically Black land-grant university in Princess Anne, Maryland, and one of 19 such institutions nationally.

Wes Moore

The governor of Maryland, named as a defendant in the lawsuit, who oversees state higher-education funding.

Maryland Higher Education Commission

The state agency that coordinates higher-education policy and funding for Maryland's public colleges and universities.

University System of Maryland

The state system that governs the University of Maryland campuses, including UMES, and whose officials are named in the complaint.

The details

The complaint, filed by the ForUMES group in U.S. District Court in Maryland, names Gov. Wes Moore and officials from the University System of Maryland and the Maryland Higher Education Commission as defendants. It alleges that the state has deliberately underfunded UMES since the school became a land-grant institution in 1890. The group also points to a $15 million approval by the University System Board of Regents in April for renovations and new construction at the UMES School of Veterinary Medicine, which began accepting applications the week before this story was published.

October 26, 2026: ForUMES filed the complaint in U.S. District Court in Maryland.
Tuesday: A news conference on the lawsuit is scheduled in Baltimore.
June 2027: The UMES School of Veterinary Medicine is scheduled to open.

Education Landscape

The 1890 Morrill Act expanded land-grant designation to create separate institutions for Black students in states that excluded them from existing public universities. This lawsuit places Maryland's funding gap for UMES within that long history of unequal public higher-education support.

If you are considering UMES or another Maryland public campus, the state's per-student funding levels affect tuition and program availability, so ask the school's financial-aid office how current budgets shape costs. The lawsuit is at an early stage, so any change in funding is not something to plan around yet.

The takeaway

The lawsuit puts a spotlight on how per-student state funding can differ sharply between public universities in the same state. Students comparing Maryland schools can ask each financial-aid office how state appropriations and tuition are set for their program.