The University will spend more than $155 million over the next two years and nearly $335 million over the next five years on buildings and infrastructure improvements. The ambitious capital improvements and growing overall budget - increased 8.2 percent for next year - require aggressive fundraising, administrators said at a faculty meeting Tuesday.
The capital budget of $155 million for the next two years, set by the Corporation at its meeting last weekend, will allow the University to complete renovations to Pembroke Hall and the Sciences Library and the construction of the Life Sciences building, in addition to improvements to infrastructure and fire safety in buildings around campus, said Elizabeth Huidekoper, executive vice president for finance and administration.
The University's five-year capital plan estimates building construction and improvements totaling $333.6 million, Huidekoper said. The plan calls for construction of Sidney E. Frank Hall and the Nelson Fitness Center and ongoing infrastructure improvements and renovations to student life and academic spaces, she said.
Huidekoper told the faculty that the two-year budget includes architectural planning for Frank Hall and the fitness center, but ground will not be broken until full funding is secured - probably not within the next two years. But President Ruth Simmons said the timeline was still uncertain.
To fund the capital projects and overall increased spending, the Corporation approved a tuition increase of 4.9 percent - raising the cost of a Brown education above $40,000. But the tuition hike is only part of the new income.
Huidekoper said an increase in the endowment is necessary to fund the University's future plans, citing the need to raise $40 million in endowment this year.
Susan Howitt, associate vice president for budget and planning, wrote in an e-mail to The Herald that the University's long-term plan calls for a $400 million increase in the endowment by 2009, including the $40 million to be raised this year.
Gifts totaling $65 million still need to be secured to fund the capital improvements in the five-year plan, Howitt wrote.
The endowment for Sidney Frank Scholars will pay out $2.25 million next year, according to the report.
The budget also assumes the Brown Annual Fund will grow by 10 percent next year, providing $27 million in unrestricted revenue, according to the URC report.
To cover the $155.2 million capital budget for the next two years, the University will borrow $105 million, Huidekoper said, adding that the balance will come from existing borrowed funds, reserved money, the operating budget and gifts totaling $25 million.
The loans will be paid off by 2011, meeting the Corporation's requirement that the University's budget be balanced in five to seven years, she said.
In other business, the faculty voted Tuesday to add a second staff member to the URC.
