Minnesota State Colleges to Ask for $400-Million for Buildings

The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system plans to ask the State Legislature for $406-million to pay for building needs, including repairs, at the various state colleges and community colleges, according to an article in Finance and Commerce.

The story says that the Legislature has denied financing for a handful of projects over the last few years, which means that projects are piling up and space is tight on some campuses. The state-college has complained in the past that it also has a crippling deferred-maintenance backlog.

The reporter toured North Hennepin Community College with Ann Wynia, the president:

With burgeoning enrollment in bioscience, medical device, health, science and related programs, North Hennepin’s existing bioscience building is bulging at the seams. There’s no break in the action during the summer, as a recent tour of the labs and classrooms revealed.

“We opened a new science center in 2002,” Wynia said. “And we were really excited about it. We thought this was going to take care of us. Well, the utilization rate in that building is 140 percent. It may be the busiest building on campus.”

The campus is busy, the story says, because many of the state’s four-year institutions offer courses, and even entire degrees, through the campus. The state’s flagship institution, the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, is also less accessible.

“The ‘U’ has gotten increasingly selective and they are focusing more and more on becoming a top-tier graduate university, which is a wonderful thing,” Ms. Wynia told the publication. “That will greatly benefit Minnesota. But we also need a steady supply of bachelor’s degrees.”