Funding needed for master plan

Of IU’s existing 15.3 million square feet, the IU master plan maps out needs totaling to an increase of 4 million.

Part of the needed space has been marked out for new campus facilities. Some schools in need or in the process of expansion include the Jacobs School of Music, the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, the School of Informatics, the School of Journalism, the School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation and the Kelley School of Business.

The IU master plan, which was released Feb. 19, will be used as a guideline for construction projects.

Funding for projects undertaken in the next 30 years will be derived from a mixture of private funding, state appropriations and increased tuition, said IU student trustee A.D. King.

“The catalyst will be private funding from donors,” King said. “State funding and tuition will have less of an influence.”

King added that 20 years ago, tuition prices could not be predicted – and the same is true today.

If a request for more funding is going to be made, be it from the state, donors or students in the form of tuition, people are going to want justification, King said.
The master plan will serve as that justification.

Private donations and money from endowments through the IU Foundation have already sparked building plans in the Kelley School of Business and the Jacobs School of Music.

The School of Informatics and the School of Journalism are prime examples of buildings that have outgrown their resources, officials said.

“We are a rapidly growing school. Space is at a premium,” said James Shea, informatics director of planning. “It is very likely we are doing a 10,000-square-foot annex this year.”

The school’s self-funded project will be an extension from its current 10th Street location that will house its computer science department.

The School of Journalism needs double the space it currently has, said Brad Hamm, dean of the School of Journalism.

“There are no immediate plans for the building,” Hamm said, “but discussions have started.”