UMASS Officials Advance Building Plan Unrivaled in System's History
By Cyndi Roy for the State House News Service
       While funding remains tenuous, University of Massachusetts officials are planning a five-year building boom that will provide students with new recreation and campus centers, housing, research facilities, and parking garages at the University’s five campuses, they said today.
       A subcommittee of the UMass Board of Trustees approved a $2.26 billion capital plan Wednesday that is twice as large as any plan in the University’s history. In addition to new construction, the plan includes more than $1 billion to repair and upgrade aging campus buildings and facilities.
       “This is not a wish list, it’s a needs list,” UMass President Jack Wilson told members of the Administration and Finance Committee. “It represents our reasonable aspirations for the coming years.”
       Most of the buildings at the five campuses are more than 30 years old. A quarter of the buildings at the flagship campus in Amherst were built before 1950.
       “We spend a huge amount of money on capital costs,” Amherst Chancellor John Lombardi told committee members. “The Amherst campus is a wreck, though we disguise it rather well.”
       University and state leaders say maintaining modern and functional facilities is more important than ever before, as students increasingly base their college decisions on the type of recreational and auxiliary services campuses offer.
       Lombardi said the University has not recruited as many higher-paying out-of-state students as officials would like, in part because the campus does not offer the same recreational and living opportunities as competing institutions.
       “Out of state is still not a big money maker,” he said. “We can’t compete on facilities. We have no rec center. Our residence halls are ancient. It’s a serious defect.”
       The committee will now submit the plan to the full board, which is scheduled to vote on the plan next Wednesday.