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College News
SPSU & Life University Combine
by Karen Asay, The Sting Staff Writer
12/29/2003 8:08:46 AM
Life’s lost its accreditation in June 2002 and has since suffered a huge decease in enrollment. Life got their accreditation back, but due to bad public relations their image was hurt and enrollment has remained low. With so few students, the university can no longer pay back its debts, totaling $30.7 million. The SPSU foundation plans to take on Life’s debt, buying the campus for a fraction of it’s appraised worth.
The foundation plans to take on Life’s $30.7 million debt, which comes out to be a $2.7 million annual payment. This is a great deal since the campus was appraised for $52 million. The foundation intends to pay the debt with bonds, which they will subsequently pay off with monies from rent to be paid by Life University, SPSU, and possibly the Georgia Public Library Service. Life will rent back 50% to 60% of the campus (four or five buildings). SPSU will also pay the rent for the portions of campus they use.
Since SPSU’s budget is already tight, Dr. Rossbacher is trying to get the Board of Regents (BoR) to take over SPSU’s rental costs. On November 18, the BoR approved the foundations proposal to begin planning for the purchase of the land. Early next semester, when planning is finished, Dr. Rossbacher will give the formal proposal requesting that the BoR take on SPSU’s rental costs. Unfortunately, even if the BoR does approve the proposal, they cannot legally guarantee that the money will be available every year. Dr. Rossbacher commented that the BoR does not make rash investments so if they approve the money, she asserted that they will most likely make the money available every year.
Along with the acquisition of the campus, the foundation will also buy the apartments located on Life’s campus. The foundation plans to finance these apartments in the same way as the University Courtyard on SPSU’s campus – the foundation will sell bonds to pay for the apartments up front and use rent for the apartments to pay off the bonds. Unlike the University Courtyard, Life’s apartments are going to be used for married couples that attend SPSU, Life, and possibly Kennesaw State University. The apartments will add 128 units with some apartments having 1, 2 or 3 bedrooms.
The merging of the SPSU and Life’s campuses will add a lot of space to SPSU. SPSU is 226 acres now and the addition of the Life campus will add another 89 acres, plus a few more with the apartments. There would be an additional 12 buildings with a total of 433,000 square feet of space.
One of the buildings SPSU will be getting is the “Tree House,” which was built before the 1900’s and was the house of the old caretaker of Marietta’s water supply. This building has a big commercial kitchen, a dining room, and many meeting rooms. Dr. Rossbacher hopes that it can be used as a fundraising tool and for campus events since the student center has become very popular and SPSU organizations and faculty sometimes cannot get space for events.
The 1415 building on the far end of Life campus would be used for classrooms if the Georgia Public Library Service doesn’t rent it. Most of the other space on campus is good for seminars rather than classrooms, except for in the gymnasium. The gym has classroom space along with basketball courts and athletic facilities. Another addition is going to be a well-manicured soccer stadium and two rugby fields.
The foundation, in addition to the purchase of Life’s campus, plans to give SPSU $5 million to renovate both campuses. Two plans for this money are to convert the old gym on SPSU’s campus into studio space and tear down the I-building. The two campuses will also be connected with a road. The road that runs in front of the utilities buildings, which almost connects the campuses, most likely will be extended to unite SPSU and Life. Another place for suitable for a road has not been identified. Walkways, foot bridges, and maybe bike paths will be put in. Further, the fence that now separates the campuses will be taken down.
Right now, Life is under Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) accreditation review. On December 6-9, Life is sending a delegate to represent them at the annual meeting of the SACS board in Nashville, TN, where the board will reveal its decision on Life’s accreditation. Dr. Rossbacher is confident that even if Life is unable to rent the property from the foundation, SPSU will figure out a way to keep the campus. Rossbacher stated that there are other parties that are interested in renting parts of the campus and added that the foundation has been looking at Life campus for a long time, which she emphasized makes her confident that they would look at all situations seriously in hopes of acquiring the property.
Life University will be added to SPSU by July 2004 if everything goes as planned. The BoR must approve the proposal for final planning and financing of the acquisition. This means that by fall semester next year, Life will likely be part of the campus.
Life’s lost its accreditation in June 2002 and has since suffered a huge decease in enrollment. Life got their accreditation back, but due to bad public relations their image was hurt and enrollment has remained low. With so few students, the university can no longer pay back its debts, totaling $30.7 million. The SPSU foundation plans to take on Life’s debt, buying the campus for a fraction of it’s appraised worth.
The foundation plans to take on Life’s $30.7 million debt, which comes out to be a $2.7 million annual payment. This is a great deal since the campus was appraised for $52 million. The foundation intends to pay the debt with bonds, which they will subsequently pay off with monies from rent to be paid by Life University, SPSU, and possibly the Georgia Public Library Service. Life will rent back 50% to 60% of the campus (four or five buildings). SPSU will also pay the rent for the portions of campus they use.
Since SPSU’s budget is already tight, Dr. Rossbacher is trying to get the Board of Regents (BoR) to take over SPSU’s rental costs. On November 18, the BoR approved the foundations proposal to begin planning for the purchase of the land. Early next semester, when planning is finished, Dr. Rossbacher will give the formal proposal requesting that the BoR take on SPSU’s rental costs. Unfortunately, even if the BoR does approve the proposal, they cannot legally guarantee that the money will be available every year. Dr. Rossbacher commented that the BoR does not make rash investments so if they approve the money, she asserted that they will most likely make the money available every year.
Along with the acquisition of the campus, the foundation will also buy the apartments located on Life’s campus. The foundation plans to finance these apartments in the same way as the University Courtyard on SPSU’s campus – the foundation will sell bonds to pay for the apartments up front and use rent for the apartments to pay off the bonds. Unlike the University Courtyard, Life’s apartments are going to be used for married couples that attend SPSU, Life, and possibly Kennesaw State University. The apartments will add 128 units with some apartments having 1, 2 or 3 bedrooms.
The merging of the SPSU and Life’s campuses will add a lot of space to SPSU. SPSU is 226 acres now and the addition of the Life campus will add another 89 acres, plus a few more with the apartments. There would be an additional 12 buildings with a total of 433,000 square feet of space.
One of the buildings SPSU will be getting is the “Tree House,” which was built before the 1900’s and was the house of the old caretaker of Marietta’s water supply. This building has a big commercial kitchen, a dining room, and many meeting rooms. Dr. Rossbacher hopes that it can be used as a fundraising tool and for campus events since the student center has become very popular and SPSU organizations and faculty sometimes cannot get space for events.
The 1415 building on the far end of Life campus would be used for classrooms if the Georgia Public Library Service doesn’t rent it. Most of the other space on campus is good for seminars rather than classrooms, except for in the gymnasium. The gym has classroom space along with basketball courts and athletic facilities. Another addition is going to be a well-manicured soccer stadium and two rugby fields.
The foundation, in addition to the purchase of Life’s campus, plans to give SPSU $5 million to renovate both campuses. Two plans for this money are to convert the old gym on SPSU’s campus into studio space and tear down the I-building. The two campuses will also be connected with a road. The road that runs in front of the utilities buildings, which almost connects the campuses, most likely will be extended to unite SPSU and Life. Another place for suitable for a road has not been identified. Walkways, foot bridges, and maybe bike paths will be put in. Further, the fence that now separates the campuses will be taken down.
Right now, Life is under Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) accreditation review. On December 6-9, Life is sending a delegate to represent them at the annual meeting of the SACS board in Nashville, TN, where the board will reveal its decision on Life’s accreditation. Dr. Rossbacher is confident that even if Life is unable to rent the property from the foundation, SPSU will figure out a way to keep the campus. Rossbacher stated that there are other parties that are interested in renting parts of the campus and added that the foundation has been looking at Life campus for a long time, which she emphasized makes her confident that they would look at all situations seriously in hopes of acquiring the property.
Life University will be added to SPSU by July 2004 if everything goes as planned. The BoR must approve the proposal for final planning and financing of the acquisition. This means that by fall semester next year, Life will likely be part of the campus.
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