Friday, August 26, 2005

Regents Approve Construction, Tuition Increase

Sam Houston State University regents Friday awarded a contract for a new 410-bed apartment style residential complex to be built at the southeast edge of the campus and approved a $10 per semester credit hour tuition increase effective in the 2006 spring semester.

The Board of Regents, Texas State University System, selected SpawGlass Construction Corp. of Houston for the $17.5 million project, which is expected to be started in September and completed in time for the 2006 fall Semester. James F. Gaertner, SHSU president, said the new housing will be built on a six-acre site formerly occupied by the Gintz family housing complex and Aydelotte and McCray Houses, all of which were built in 1961. The new complex will contain features of the Bearkat Village and Sam Houston Village apartments, which were built in the last three years and are popular with current SHSU students. Satisfaction with the new housing facilities is considered to be at least partially responsible for SHSU's projected fall record enrollment of more than 15,000.

In other business, the board approved a tuition increase of $10 per semester credit hour, purchase of new scoreboards for Bowers Stadium and Johnson Coliseum, a new weight room, an elevator for the stadium press box, an accessibility upgrade of the Gresham Library, and the 2006 holiday schedule. The Departments of Athletics and Recreational Sports are in the process of reviewing proposals for scoreboards, video boards, timing and message display systems at Bowers Stadium and in Johnson Coliseum, at a cost of up to $500,000. If funds are available for both, the installations would be made by Oct. 1 for the stadium and January 5, 2006 for the coliseum. The press box elevator will cost an estimated $800,000, with work to be done after this year's football season.

The weight room contract, with an estimated project cost of $1.2 million, and the library accessibility upgrade contract, with an estimated cost of $400,000, were both awarded to J & M Contracting Company of Huntsville. The weight facility will be a part of the new baseball/softball complex.

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