The University of Arkansas at Monticello is getting its first facelift since the 1990s.
And it's all thanks to a bond issue of up to $14.5 million that will pave the way for the 3,924-student university to finish several projects, including the renovation of its oldest residence hall and building the campus's first Student Success Center.
The bond issue will come with an interest rate not to exceed 6 percent and will extend the university's debt service by about $1 million annually through 2041, said Jay Jones, the university's vice chancellor for finance and administration. It will be backed by student tuition and mandatory fees.
The bulk of bond sales -- more than $10 million -- is for the dorm and the center, though the university is also planning to build a police station on campus, a student learning commons area and a new workforce space on its Crossett campus.
The Student Success Center ties into the open-enrollment school's efforts to help students. Having a one-stop shop for student services will increase their likelihood of success, said Chancellor Karla Hughes.
"The process of navigating a university can be really complex, especially for first-generation college students," she said. "One of the best practices is you provide a place centered around the student ... where they know where to go for help and do things from registering to financial aid to paying their bills to having advisers and also counseling services."
Originally planned for the Old Student Union, the center will now be built anew -- a cost savings measure, the university said. University administration had wanted to renovate the old union and include a common area on the first floor, but found that it would be costlier than anticipated because of the building's age.
The center will still be in the heart of the campus, now just west of the administration building, nearly creating a quad, Hughes said. Construction is set to begin midyear, and the building will open in fall 2018.
At that time, it will house components of the registrar's office, financial aid and cashier's office, admissions and recruiting, housing, career counseling, academic advising, a book store, and dining options.
The other major project is the renovation of the oldest dorm on campus: Horsfall Hall. The residence hall, which dates back to 1934, houses 105 women and hasn't been at capacity for years even though it, too, is in the middle of campus.
"It's a beautiful residence hall," Hughes said. "But it is not very popular because it still has the old common bathroom."
Bethany Tapia, a sophomore studying education, said she chose to live in Horsfall for her first two years at the university.
"I actually chose that one because I didn't like the transition," the Hermitage native said. "Coming to college was a bit intimidating, and the rest of the halls were co-ed."
She liked the historical look of the residence hall -- "it kind of reminded me of a castle" -- but the inside, she said, was a little outdated. Nonetheless, she plans to stay there because of its location and its "family setting."
The Horsfall renovation -- along with an update of another on-campus dorm, Bankston Hall -- was first given approval by the University of Arkansas System board of trustees in November 2012. It didn't move forward at the time because the university needed those dorms to house students.
Staff had looked at completing both dorm renovations over the summer months, but the compressed schedule led to a price hike, Jones said. Bankston was prioritized and came in over budget, spelling out the end of the renovation dreams for Horsfall at the time.
Now, UAM will use tuition and fees -- it started a $10 per credit hour fee for a student success initiative and $10 per credit hour for deferred maintenance -- to cover the cost of the bond issue. The matter was approved by the UA System board last month.
The university currently pays $1.5 million annually for existing debt service -- a fraction of its annual $45 million budget -- but that annual payout will drop by $500,000 as a previous bond issue retires in fiscal 2020, Jones said.
Horsfall Hall will still be completed in two phases: this summer and next.
Phase One includes restroom and laundry renovations. The dorm's current shower room and a separate restroom on each floor will be replaced by one community restroom, and the laundry room will move from the basement to the first floor. The second phase includes new bedroom doors and closets and updated finishes and lighting.
The bond sales will also go toward the construction of a new police station in lieu of a mobile home station and a learning commons area in the student library. The commons area will include a tutoring center, a writing center and an adviser, along with computers and bigger spaces to gather. The university is still fine-tuning details for the Crossett workforce center.
The new mandatory student fees will go a long way toward helping finish the five projects, Hughes said.
But "it will not take care of it all," she said, referring to other deferred maintenance needs on campus.
Metro on 02/05/2017