Penn College Board Approves Housing Rates for 2005-06

After touring the renovated Klump Academic Center on Thursday, the Penn College Board of Directors approved Residence Life on-campus housing rates for 2005-06 and OK'd some routine midyear budget adjustments.

The housing rates for the four College-owned-and-operated facilities are: Resident Assistant roommate in efficiency, $1,700; one bedroom, four-person apartment, $1,700; efficiency, two-person apartment, $1,900; two-bedroom, four-person apartment, $2,100; two-bedroom super suite (as triple), $1,700; one-bedroom, two-person apartment, $2,200; one-bedroom apartment (as triple), $1,600; single efficiency, $2,900; one-semester December graduate, $2,300; spring semester, single-bedroom in two-bedroom apartment, $2,500; triple assignments, $1,600.

The Summer 2005 rate will be $100/week. Summer conference housing rates will be: double occupancy in bedroom, $20/night; single occupancy in bedroom, $35/night; single occupancy in apartment, $60/night.

Fees include: Residence Life Activity Fee, $14/semester; per-night charge/excess of contract, $15 per night; and prohibited-item fee, $50/item. Penn College President Dr. Davie Jane Gilmour said students were tripled in some rooms for the first time this year, and when those students later were offered other rooms, many chose to stay "tripled" with their new friends.

Dr. Jill Landesberg-Boyle, vice president for student affairs, said on-campus rates are comparable to housing costs at other institutions and quite favorable compared to off-campus housing. She said the College's on-campus housing is in "extremely high demand."

The Board approved budget adjustments for the Unrestricted Current Fund, the Restricted Current Fund and the Plant Fund. The adjustments reflect enrollment-related revenue/expenditure changes, as well as interfund transfers for grant-match and capital needs.

Before the meeting, board members took a 25-minute tour of the Academic Center, for which renovations are about 85-percent complete. The group toured the "Wrapture" dining facility on the first floor, the new offices for the School of Integrated Studies, the new state-of-the-art Paramedic Lab, Mathematics Program offices and a computer lab.

In other business, Ed Crooks of ECA Investment Group Inc. reported on the investment portfolios of the College and the Penn College Foundation. There was an 11.1-percent aggregate performance for Foundation funds and a 6.28-percent aggregate performance for College funds. The College portfolio is managed more conservatively, he noted.

Dr. Nick Vitterite, dean of integrated studies, gave an informational presentation about the school, which enrolls 752 students and offers 71 courses in 10 majors. It offers 161 courses to all students, with about 11,000 seats filled. While many courses would be difficult to offer through distance education because of the need to use College laboratories, a physics faculty member has been experimenting with distance education, teaching three of his classes for an entire week in that fashion, Dr. Vitterite noted.

In her comments to the board, Dr. Gilmour presented a color rendering of the future Roger and Peggy Madigan Library, showing a view from Maynard Street. Requests for bids for the library will go out Nov. 15.

Dr. Gilmour also reported that a meeting this fall with off-campus landlords went well.

"They know we are very serious about codes inspections," she said, adding the College has received cooperation from city Codes officials. Dr. Gilmour said she made the landlords aware that, if the College ever considers adding more student housing, it will be upfront with them. Overall, she noted, the landlords were very positive.

The Board also was told that Mercedes-Benz is considering reactivating its management-training program and is looking at two schools to conduct the training: Ferris State University in Michigan and Penn College.