UC Merced is running out of space to keep up with growing enrollment. Now, the university is asking the UC Board of Regents to expand campus offices to downtown Merced. FM89’s Diana Aguilera reports.
The regents will vote Wednesday whether to approve $1.3 million dollars for construction of a campus administrative center in downtown Merced.
Daniel Feitelberg, vice chancellor of planning and budget at UC Merced, says bringing offices to the downtown area is vital not only for the university but also for the city.
“Due to our space constraints on campus we’ve already been moving a large component of our administrative operations to facilities of off campus and so this center would bring those operations back together,” Feitelberg says.
UC Merced will also present another plan for growth at the meeting – the 2020 project. The goal is to expand on-campus facilities to meet the demands of current and future students. In this school year, about 6,200 students are enrolled.
“This project would deliver us the facilities necessary to grow student enrollment to 10,000 students,” Feitelberg says.
Since UC Merced opened its doors 10 years ago the university has seen rapid enrollment growth. If the regents approve the funding for the downtown center, the university hopes to have it ready by the end of 2017.
