MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — With a state budget still in limbo and projected shortfalls growing with each report from Charleston, West Virginia University continues to consider costly investment, improvement and expansion.
This week, the university announced a feasibility study regarding the potential renovation of the Mountainlair.
Rob Alsop, Vice President for Legal, Government and Entrepreneurial Engagement, said students expect more and more from universities and the campuses.
“They want a campus where they not only have great classes but an entire experience. We’re constantly looking at ways in which we can provide a great education, improve retention rates and provide a great environment for our students.”
The Washington D.C. firm Brailsford & Dunlavey is expected to return study results to university leaders in October. The student union was built in 1968 and was last renovated in 1989.
Meanwhile, WVU’s Board of Governors approved the construction of a $2.3 million dollar engineering lab at the recently acquired Beckley campus while closing facilities in Montgomery. Alsop said there is no question purchasing the former Mountain State University property is a risk.
“We think it’s a solution for a lot of the problems in the Montgomery campus with infrastructure problems. We think we can work with our colleagues and institutions in southern West Virginia in providing, as President Gee likes to say, another front door for the university. We think it’s a risk worth taking.”
The lab construction is expected to be covered with WVU Research Corporation borrowed funds.
Following a Higher Education Policy Commission meeting April 1, members expected nothing from lawmakers on a finalized state budget until after the May 10 primary election. At that time, leaders had already been hit with a 4% reduction in state funds.
At WVU, Alsop said that makes a Dream First financial campaign imperative for more than just raising money for scholarships.
“We actually have a number of transformation teams where we’re looking at ways we could potentially generate new revenue and moderate costs. So, we’re working on any number of ways in which we can improve the experience at a good cost.”
An April 7 American Academy of Arts and Sciences report recommended that universities facing budget blows, in part, should “create public-private partnerships to sustain and strengthen research and education for the future.”
WVU has already developed three housing facilities through public-private partnerships and expects a new aquatics center to be constructed by the same means.
“We have to be creative and efficient in this environment,” Alsop stated. “But, it’s going to continue to be that way. We don’t want our state revenues to continue to decline, but we also understand that when the state has a tight budget we have to be nimble and strategic when it comes to investing money.”
Lawmakers and Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin are faced with a $270 million budget hole in the budget year that begins July 1.