Two weeks and $33 million stand between an expanded Reitz Union and a building renovated for quiet studying.
UF student senators are phoning Tallahassee to urge state senators to include UF’s student fees, which will finance the projects, in a bond package.
The package is already supported by the Florida House of Representatives, but if the Senate doesn’t approve the bonds, funds for the Reitz Union expansion and Newell Hall renovations could be cut.
Student Body President Tj Villamil said state senators are wary of approving the bonds out of fear it would add to the state debt. But UF has never defaulted on its loans, he said.
UF secured the $75 million Reitz Union expansion in 2012, with $50 million from bonded student fees and $5 million from UF reserves. An expected $20 million would come from the Capital Improvement Trust Fund if the bonds are approved. The Newell Hall renovations would get $13 million.
The fund was created in 1988 to improve nonacademic student life buildings on campus. It is bonded every four years, which means when students pay tuition, their money is transferred into bonds to be approved by the state Legislature. Then, the money compounds over time to return a greater investment. The fee costs each student $6.76 per credit hour, according to the University Bursar’s website.
“We want students to call up senators and tell them how important these buildings are to them and how important it is to future Gators,” Villamil said.
Sen. Morgan Vollrath is gathering a group of about five senators and Students Party members to take to the phone bank next week.
“It’s a bipartisan issue,” he said. “Students will benefit greatly from it.”
Contact Colleen Wright at cwright@alligator.org.
