The university has made sure its faculty thrives salary-wise, but overall wealth including retirement plans have been negatively affected by the current economy.

UD has continued to hire faculty at a time when many universities have not been hiring, according to university officials. Last year, UD hired 39 tenure track faculty members.

But while pay increases help employees, there is a disparity between their income and wealth. While workers' income has not been hurt significantly, their wealth has. Wealth includes retirement funds, investments and other benefits earned from a job.

According to Elizabeth Gustafson, associate dean of the School of Business Administration.

UD uses a version of the 401(k) retirement plan, which allows faculty to defer income taxes until they retire. Employees invest money in an account which their employer matches. But with this plan, employees have no defined benefits, which can become troublesome in an economic downturn. In 2008 and 2009, 401(k)s dropped 30 percent, forcing workers across the country to put off retirement.

Raising salaries is important in order to retain faculty and attract possible employees, especially when salary freezes are common at other universities across the U.S.

According to Thomas Burkhardt of Finance and Administrative Services, salary increases at UD are based on both merit and the cost of living at that time. Last year's raise for faculty and other employees was over three percent.

A reason that UD continues to prosper in a less than ideal economy may be because they rely more on tuition than endowment to keep them afloat, according to Gustafson.

"It's one of the few times a place like UD, who doesn't have a huge endowment, is better off than someplace like Harvard, which is endowment driven," Gustafson said. "But we've had to tighten our belts, no doubt."

While UD has to cut back some with budget, the university is succeeding in providing jobs which are becoming sparser in the Dayton area.

According to Bureau of Labor Statistics, Dayton's unemployment rate was 11.8 percent as of December 2009. This is well above the national rate of 9.3 percent. Neighboring cities such as Columbus and Cincinnati are also hurting, though less so than Dayton, with respective rates of 8.5 and 9.9 percent.

"The Midwest has been [hurt], especially Ohio," Gustafson said. "This area traditionally has a lot of industry and that certainly has been hard hit ... people now don't feel as mobile - they think twice about relocating because they have to sell their house. Values aren't as robust as they once were."

In many U.S. cities housing values rose and then fell, while in areas like Dayton, the prices never rose. Dayton residents have only experienced a substantial dip in their home worth. While this is an attractive quality for those moving to the city, many current Dayton residents are forced to reconsider moving until the economy betters itself.

As for the job situation, it lags behind the rest of the economy, but will follow eventually, according to Gustafson. There was a growth in gross domestic product in the last quarter of 2009, but the majority of employers will wait to make sure the improved economy will stick before they begin hiring more workers.

But as for UD, it continues to stand out as an institution that will continue to reward its faculty, despite the economic climate.

Gustafson attributes UD's good fortune to conservative money handlers in finance, and an administration that doesn't want to lose momentum on moving forward on various projects.