onstruction on community college campuses is often paid for out of general capital or operations budgets or by way of taxpayer-approved bonds. But, as state and local money becomes increasingly scarce, many colleges, while still pursuing traditional funding sources, are also con- sidering alternative strategies to support facilities upgrades on campus. C
FOR IT
Morton College Library, Cicero, Ill.
“What I hear from community college leaders is that funding is less than
what it should be,” says John F. Bernhards, associate vice president of APPA:
The Association of Higher Education
Facilities Officers. “Enrollments are
spiking in light of the economy, so
colleges are forming partnerships with
the private sector, creating multi-use
buildings, and looking at other types of
opportunities.”
Four-Year Partners
Building 4 at Valencia College in
Orlando, Fla., began typically, as a
Public Education Capital Outlay and
Debt Service Trust Fund project. Then
state funding for the project dried up
following a governor’s veto earlier this
year.
Rather than give up on the project,
Valencia’s administrators reached out
to their neighbors at the University of
Central Florida to discuss the possibility of co-ownership.
The institutions had worked together
before, primarily on academic arrangements, including a joint architectural
program in which students take courses
provided by Valencia and UCF. Given
their history together, the building
proposal was a natural fit.
“Part of the building will be owned
by UCF; they are investing about
$7.5 million into the project,” says
Keith Houck, vice president of
administrative services for Valencia.
For its contribution, UCF will
control roughly 30,000 of the building’s 150,000 total square feet, which
it plans to use as a remote facility. UCF
was already using classrooms on the
Valencia campus. Through the agreement, it would get additional space and
the benefits of an official partnership.
Joyce Dorner, interim vice provost of
regional campuses at UCF, endorses the
collaboration. “We have similar arrangements with several state and community colleges,” she says. “It’s one way to
stretch the dollar, which is important
at this point in time. Most significant, it
establishes a culture of collaboration for
the staff and faculty members at both
colleges, which can lead to additional
