Stockton College Recommended for $54 Million in State Funds

Following a positive vote on the "Building Our Future" bond act in the   the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey acted quickly and is set to receive state funds for a pair of capital improvement projects.

New Jersey Secretary of Higher Education Rochelle Hendricks has recommended the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey receive $54 million in state funds for capital construction projects, the college announced on Tuesday night, April 30.

This includes $21.5 million for the college's Unified Science Center and $13.5 million for a 60,000-square-foot new classroom building. State funds will provide for 75 percent of the building costs, with the college providing the additional 25 percent.

The projects are among 176 projects statewide that now go before the State Legislature for approval.

The "Building our Futures" bond, passed by voters in November, provides $750 million in funding for the state's colleges.

Shortly after the referendum passed, the college applied for funds for the two projects.

In all, the state received 250 applications for projects from colleges across the state.

An additional amount of over $500 million is also available through the Higher Education Capital Improvement Fund, the Higher Education Facilities Trust Fund, the Higher Education Technology Infrastructure Fund and the Higher Education Equipment Leasing Fund, college officials said.

“These funds will allow us to continue improving the high quality of education we offer our students, who need a world-class education to be able to seize a lifetime of opportunities,” Stockton College President Herman J. Saatkamp said. "The state’s funding of our projects will allow Stockton to provide jobs in our region and much-needed academic facilities for our students."

"Today, we begin a new era of opportunity for New Jersey’s colleges and universities," Gov. Chris Christie said of the statewide funding. "To keep more of our best students in the state and to make our colleges more attractive research partners for industries looking to bring good paying jobs and businesses here, we need modern facilities to remain competitive."

This is the first funding the state has provided for college construction in decades.

“Our team looked for innovative projects that were in line with the missions of the colleges and New Jersey’s needs. I’m proud that higher education institutions in every region of our state will benefit," Hendricks said.

The addition to the Unified Science Center costs $28,620,000, and provides labs for teaching and research, a greenhouse, computer labs, faculty offices and a vivarium, which is an area for keeping and raising animals or plants for observation. The additional classroom building would house 24 classrooms, 20 offices and teaching space for the Schools of Business, Education, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Arts and Humanities, General Studies, Health Sciences and Natural Sciences and Mathematics, and costs $18,030,600.

Additional Stockton projects that were recommended for funding included:

* $6.4 million for an energy management project which will modernize equipment and infrastructure, including upgrades to the college’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems;

 * $6.4 million for equipment and analytical instruments for teaching and research in the Biology and Chemistry areas of the new Unified science Building;

* $4.2 million to renovate the Arts and Sciences building, including exterior repairs and improvements in energy efficiency;

* $1.195 million to upgrade education technology, including upgrading equipment used by faculty in lectures in electronic classrooms and computer labs; development of virtualized computer labs to support student-owned mobile devices such as tablets; and desktop computers; and

* $775,000 for an educational technology infrastructure project to improve high-speed voice, video and data fiber structure, high-capacity internet access, and upgrades to the core high-speed 10G network and wireless infrastructures on campus.