STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Aiming to draw more students and
stay competitive in the Philadelphia area, Pennsylvania State University is
poised to spend more than $100 million to add a residence hall at its Abington
campus, and a residence hall and student union at its Brandywine campus in
Media.
Neither campus has residence halls, so the addition of
housing has the potential to transform what have been satellite sites serving
commuters into self-enclosed communities that could appeal to a wider swath of
prospective students. Being just outside the city is part of the lure.
"A lot of Philadelphia residents want to come to
Penn State, and they would like to have that first experience in
Philadelphia," university president Eric Barron said.
The projects won the backing of the PSU trustees' finance
committee Thursday. They go before the full board Friday.
If approved, the residence halls could open as soon as
2017, said Ford Stryker, associate vice president for physical plant. The new
student union would have dining services.
The two campuses have since 2009 attracted increasing
numbers of out-of-state students and international students, many who live in
off-campus apartments, Stryker said. With 3,966 students, Abington is the third
largest of Penn State's 20 branch campuses.
The expansion plan there calls for a $50 million, 402-bed
apartment-style residence hall along Old York Road, about a half-mile from the
campus. The site, just down the road from the Abington Township Public Library,
was most recently a car dealership. A shuttle would transport students to and
from campus.
During construction, "more than 100 full- or
part-time jobs will be created with approximately $25 million in total economic
impact," Karen Wiley Sandler, chancellor of the campus, said in a
statement. "Long-term, we expect nearly 50 new jobs to be established with
an expected $5 million in economic impact."
Brandywine, the sixth-largest campus, with 1,457
students, would get a 256-bed residence hall behind its library. The price tag
is $31.5 million. The plans also call for $20 million to be spent on a 31,000-square-foot
student union with dining services, meeting rooms, a bookstore, recreational
space, and other services.
Stryker showed a map with other universities in the
Philadelphia area that offer housing. He said not having residence halls puts
Abington and Brandywine at a disadvantage.
University officials cited Pennsylvania Department of
Education data that show the Abington and Brandywine areas combined are
projected to enroll 28,000 high school seniors by 2021, the largest number of
any region in the state.
Barron also said retention and graduation rates were
better at campuses with housing. Students can get a sense of community and
become more involved with the campus if they live there, he said.
Only one member of the finance committee opposed the
construction. New trustee Elliott W. Weinstein questioned whether the
university should be in the business of building and owning residence halls.
If the projects get final approval Friday, 10 of the 20
branch campuses will have on-campus housing. The others are Harrisburg, Erie,
Altoona, Berks, Mont Alto, Hazleton, Beaver and Greater Allegheny.
Source: Philly.com
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