New fees likely to fund Tech business building
August 7, 2009
Texas Tech business school students could pay new fees to cover the cost of constructing a building that has failed to entice donations.
Regents gave preliminary approval Thursday to a program charging students $18 for each class hour they spend in a new Rawls College of Business Administration building to help fund the $70 million project.
Students will pay $15 million through the special fees that administrators could not persuade donors to contribute.
"It took us seven years to raise $20 million," said Kelly Overley, vice chancellor for institutional advancement. "We just don't have the prospects, in this market, for another ($15 million) anytime soon."
Students will this year pay some of the steepest increases in tuition and fees passed in recent memory, funding in part pay raises for faculty and staff, more money for research and student recruitment programs as part of a budget regents could adopt Friday. Only students who use the new building would pay the new fee, beginning in 2011.