Society for College and University Planning
Amid Economic Bust, a Boom at UMass
This Boston Globe article by Robert Gavin includes a video interview with University of Massachusetts president Jack M. Wilson, which begins with him talking about the $1.9B of building the university has done in the last few years.
Underlying all the construction is the university’s growth. State funding pays for 14 percent of this year’s $2.8 billion budget, down from 28 percent a little more than a decade ago. But since 2003, enrollment has risen nearly 15 percent systemwide, to about 66,000 students, while revenue from tuition, fees, and other non-state sources has doubled to $2.3 billion. Federal and corporate funding of UMass research has jumped 50 percent to nearly $500 million last year. Fees from licensing technologies developed at UMass nearly quadrupled to more than $70 million. Just as important has been a cultural shift borne of dwindling state support. University officials say, they have had to take an entrepreneurial approach to make the most of available resources.
Labels: University of Massachusetts, systems, NAregional, Capital Planning, Campus Planning, growth, Economic Development, community impact, town and gown, resource and budget planning