Patrick approves funds for colleges
Governor Deval Patrick approved legislation yesterday authorizing $2.2 billion over the next decade to renovate and replace outdated facilities at state colleges and universities, the first major investment in campus construction in 13 years.
The bill sets aside up to $1 billion for the five campuses of the University of Massachusetts and $1.2 billion for the 24 state and community colleges. Projects include a new $100 million science building at UMass-Amherst, $100 million for a new academic building at UMass-Boston, and $70 million for a new business school and for a marine science facility at UMass-Dartmouth.
The spending measure also takes aim at failing infrastructure that has long plagued the public higher education system. Students and faculty across the state frequently complain about cramped labs with obsolete equipment, crumbling buildings, and classrooms that are alternately too hot or too cold. Some campuses, such as Fitchburg State College and Bunker Hill Community College, have not built new facilities in three decades.
"The Commonwealth's public institutions of higher education have been vastly underfunded over the past decade, making it difficult for the schools to remain affordable," said State Senator Robert O'Leary, Senate chairman of the Joint Committee on Higher Education. "This bond bill is a momentous commitment to helping the public campuses stay innovative and modern and, most importantly, accessible to all of the Commonwealth's citizens."
Patrick said the legislation marked "an important investment in the future of our Commonwealth and in the future of our students."
Administrators throughout the system had eagerly anticipated the legislation to help finance new construction and a range of deferred renovations. Under the legislation, UMass-Lowell, where the campus has a backlog of projects, will receive $59 million for a range of work, including a new academic building. Framingham State College will receive $50 million to renovate a major academic building and build new science laboratories.
"To my knowledge, this is the largest investment of its kind in the state's history," said college spokesman Peter Chisholm.
From 2004 to 2006, Massachusetts spent proportionately less on capital improvements at public colleges than all but four states, according to the state Department of Higher Education. During that time, it spent about 3 percent of its budget for capital projects on higher education, compared with a 12 percent national average.
The new bill will raise that amount to 10 percent within five years.
"These institutions are attempting to educate a 21st-century workforce in facilities that are often decades out of date and deteriorating," said Representative Kevin J. Murphy, House chairman of the Joint Committee on Higher Education.
