FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

REGENTS ACCEPT LONG-TERM RESIDENCE LIFE FACILITY MASTER PLAN

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo., Feb. 25, 2002 - The Southeast Missouri State University Board of Regents today accepted a long-term facility master plan for Southeast’s residence halls that outlines a plan for preserving buildings, replacement cycles and renovations and repairs to ensure that Southeast maintains and operates first-rate facilities in the years to come.

Dr. Pauline Fox, vice president for administration and enrollment management, said “the capital improvements plan is not a rigid timeline of what will happen, but instead a tool to assist the University in maintaining and improving the residence halls on the Southeast Missouri State University campus.”

The plan outlines what can and cannot be accomplished in the way of improvements based on five different funding levels ranging from 1 to 5 percent increases for Southeast’s residence hall rooms. All five funding levels assume the room rates for all residence hall, apartments and leased properties would increase annually by the same percentage.

The plan recommends a 3 percent annual increase in room rates over the next eight years to help fund the improvements. The 3 percent rate is based on a recommendation from Brailsford & Dunlavey, consultants who completed a strategic housing plan for Southeast last summer and who provided a variety of financial data for modeling the potential funding for facility improvements.

A three percent annual increase would allow for roof and mattress replacements and repainting on a regular cycle, as well as furniture, carpet, bathroom and window upgrades in Towers South and East, and sprinkler installation in all residence halls currently without sprinklers, Fox said.

She said the Facility Master Plan is necessary as Southeast’s residence halls have reached a pivotal point in their history. Based on the plan, major categories of work in the residence halls through fiscal 2010 are estimated at $13 million.

“The Office of Residence Life has been in a period of exciting growth and opportunity,” Fox said, noting that Residence Life has experienced growth in revenue since 1998.

The increase in revenue, however, has been matched by an increase in expenses for the same period, she said.

“This increase in revenue and expenses has not permitted a serious re-investment into the residence hall physical facilities. If the residence halls at Southeast Missouri State University are to remain viable for the future, there must be a structured method of reinvestment into the physical facilities,” she said.

Fox said that while an annual three percent increase in room rates is desirable in order to accomplish the plan’s goals, Residence Life staff, each year will come before the Board to report on the previous year’s accomplishments and provide an updated plan, along with a proposal for the coming year’s room rates before At the request of Fox, the Office of Residence Life and Facilities Management initiated the Facility Master Plan for the residence halls. Last year, Brailsford & Dunlavey, along with Jacobs Facilities, Inc., completed a review of residence life facilities, occupancy and financial stability. That review resulted in the May 2001 Strategic Housing Plan prepared by Brailsford & Dunlavey. In that plan, Brailsford & Dunlavey provided financial modeling data used in developing the Residence Life Facility Master Plan.

The plan reviews facility needs, cycle replacement and desired renovations or repairs, all of which were developed from input from Facilities Management, the Office of Residence Life and students.

“Students were surveyed each of the past three years, regarding their desired physical changes to the residence halls,” Fox said.

Data gathered from Educational Benchmarking Institute surveys of on-campus students over the past three years also was used to focus the scope of the plan.

“Every effort has been made to examine and evaluate the current physical condition of each residence hall,” Fox said. “Prior studies, including the Housing Master Planning process document, the elevator study, roof consultant report, student input and other planning documents are integrated into this document.”

When determining how to prioritize the work, the Office of Residence Life and Facilities Management used the following projects to guide their decision making process: 1) LAN wiring, which provides Ethernet connections from residence hall rooms directly to the University’s computer network (This is part of an ongoing program which is not funded as part of Facility Master Plan but as a separate fee paid by students.); 2) needed facility repairs such as roof replacements, window repairs and replacement and ADA issues; 3) sprinkler installations in Myers, Cheney, Towers South, Towers East and Dearmont halls; and 4) desired renovations, such as surface renovations to Towers East and South and new furniture.