Start tackling this question by looking at the last sentence. You know that the money is going to other departments, which are not necessarily the most underfunded. Therefore, you know there aren't enough donors to the English department, or they aren't generous enough. You can predict something that means "lack of" for the first blank. Choice (A) paucity of, which means "shortage," works perfectly. Hang on to that one. For the second blank, you need something that contrasts how much the English department gets with how much the other ones get. Discrepancy works nicely. That eliminates choice (E) paradox—this is not contrary to what might be expected. Choice (D) irritation is very tempting but wrong. Although this situation is certainly irritating, choice (F) disparity better matches your prediction of discrepancy. The final
blank will describe the department in a manner similar to "underfunded," with which it is paired. You can therefore reject choices (G) widespread and (I) newsworthy as being incorrect. That leaves (H) needy, which matches well with "underfunded."