Building boom on Iowa’s campuses

The brick is going up and the carpet is going down in a 501-bed residence hall slated to open on the west side of the University of Iowa campus in the fall.

Across the Iowa River, crews are razing Iowa City's old water plant to make room for a second new UI residence hall — this one standing 12 stories tall, providing 1,023 beds, and costing $95 million.

At Iowa State University, crews have just begun work on a $49.5 million residence hall capable of housing 784 students, adding to the 10,959 permanent student beds ISU already offers.

And University of Northern Iowa next week will ask the state Board of Regents permission to plan for a $21 million renovation of the 450-bed Lawther Residence Hall — a preferred option to razing the 1938 structure and building new, which would remove a historic building.

In addition to residential construction, Iowa's public universities have new medical facilities, academic structures, student centers, and building renovations in the works.

All this development comes at a time when some have questioned the need and long-term consequences of such growth, citing issues such as the rise of online distance learning, traffic congestion, strains on janitorial services, and even overall recruiting strategies.

But Iowa's universities are not alone in their aspirations to expand their physical footprint.

The nation's university and college campuses have experienced something of a building boom of late — with about $12 billion in construction projects completed last year and $10 billion slated to wrap this year.

A four-state region that includes Iowa saw $446.8 million worth of new construction, renovation, and building addition projects completed in 2014, according to a 2015 College Construction Report published by College Planning & Management magazine. That number is expected to swell to $1.1 billion this year.

Iowa's region — which also includes Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska — is expected to be among the nation's busiest this year, accounting for 10.6 percent of the total construction planned for completion on college and university campuses, according to the report.

'Our growth is measured'

Although the UI campus has spent $800 million since 2008 responding to that year's devastating flood — including cleanup, temporary space, and construction — enrollment growth or plans to add students also are driving the construction surge across Iowa's three public universities.

At Iowa State, the student body has swelled exponentially over the past seven years — surpassing UI's total enrollment in 2013 to make it the state's largest public university.

On the UI campus, administrators have launched a large-scale recruiting campaign aimed at adding 5,000 more students over the next five years. That push, in part, is driven by a proposed funding change for Iowa's public universities that would tie a majority of state appropriations to resident enrollment.

Without changing its enrollment makeup, UI could lose millions in state support.

UNI, which has seen modest increases in aspects of its student body, also would like to grow its numbers and better accommodate students by upgrading buildings and adding space.

Pushback

But some question the push to grow the enrollments and physical footprints of Iowa's public universities. Sen. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City, for one, said he wonders specifically about UI's push and whether that's the best strategy.

'The University of Iowa is recruiting more Iowa kids away from private colleges and community colleges,' Bolkcom said. 'I'm not sure in the long term if that will benefit the higher education enterprise in Iowa.'

UI is a 'strong institution' with the capacity to be quite successful in its endeavor to compete for financial resources in what officials see as their new world of performance- and enrollment-based funding metrics, Bolkcom said.

'We have told the universities …

that they should start recruiting Iowa kids like never before,' he said. 'But I don't think in that scenario that all three public universities can be winners.'

Bolkcom said maintaining a thriving higher education landscape in Iowa is about finding a balance. UI, he said, has a vibrant campus with a strong relationship to the surrounding Iowa City community.

'I'm not sure that growing the student body by 5,000 over the next few years won't create all sorts of negative growing pains for the community and the university,' he said.

Congestion on the roads and sidewalks and in classrooms is one concern, Bolkcom said. That could affect class sizes, faculty recruitment, and the student experience.

'There is going to be a downside to this,' he said.

Former regent Jack Evans told The Gazette if the campuses are going to grow, he thinks the students should come from outside the state. Rep. Dave Jacoby, D-Coralville, also stressed the importance of out-of-state recruitment and expressed concern about growth using a limited pool of college-bound Iowans.

But, Jacoby said, the universities cannot remain stagnant when it comes to recruiting and accommodating 'new age students.' And Rod Lehnertz, interim vice president of UI finance and operations, said the UI campus actually has room to grow after previously holding down enrollment to enable a successful flood recovery.

'Our growth is measured,' he said. 'It is something we are planning and, because of that, we feel fairly confident that the impact will be a positive thing and not an overwhelming issue.'

The university is creating new kinds of classrooms — including interactive spaces — rather than more classrooms, and it's becoming more efficient, Lehnertz said. The on-campus housing pinch is being addressed through the two new residence halls, he said, and the university is using the campus bus system in hopes of addressing traffic concerns.

In the years immediately following the 2008 flood, Lehnertz said, the university continued to grow, and officials had to hamper that to enable a successful flood recovery.

'To say that we continued to have students come, and come in big numbers, was something — but it couldn't have been maintained. We had a campus that couldn't have taken it,' he said.

'Now we are a campus that is able to grow and have a great product of education and research in a great community.'

ISU 'making the bet'

Iowa State's growth has been unprecedented for its campus, reaching 34,732 in fall 2014 — the largest enrollment in school history and a 4.5 percent increase over the previous year. The university has set enrollment records for six straight years, and seen a 32 percent jump since 2007 — equal to an additional 8,472 students on campus.

That growth has presented both opportunities and challenges for the campus. Faculty and staff have expressed concern about compensation in light of their growing workload, and President Steven Leath has said ISU is desperate for more funding to accommodate the expanding student body.

Warren Madden, ISU senior vice president for business and finance, said traffic congestion has become an issue on and around the campus. Even janitorial services are strained — including the cleaning of restrooms and the volume of toilet paper needed.

But with the challenges come opportunities, according to Madden. Food trucks are operating on campus, the nearby Campustown area has big development plans, and ISU's research park is expanding and offering more jobs.

'I would rather be dealing with the growth challenge than the shrinking challenge,' Madden said. 'There is a vibrancy that adds to the experience on campus.'

Community development projects underway near campus have brought a Dunkin' Donuts to town and could include Starbucks and Caribou Coffee locations.

'When the students come back in the fall, the whole Campustown area will have a different feel and look to it, and that wouldn't have happened if our enrollment growth wasn't attracting developers,' he said. 'All of that is good growth for Ames.'

Madden said ISU's on-campus construction is need-driven. Students need more laboratory space, study areas, and residential rooms.

'Students at Iowa State can live anywhere they want, but more want to live on campus,' he said.

And although online courses and virtual offerings are expanding nationally and in Iowa, Madden doesn't think the demand for physical campus space will fade. He talked about a maturation that occurs for 18-year-old freshmen who don't want to live at home to take courses.

'We are borrowing money to build facilities that have a 20- to 30-year life, or longer,' he said. 'Iowa State is making the bet that we will be a physical campus for the indefinite future.'