Talking Stick - November/December 2016 - 59

residential experience for our students
instead of focusing on managing
custodial, dining, and related issues.
A major challenge of not being an
auxiliary operation for us is having
to compete for capital improvement
funds with the campus at-large. There
are times when our priorities and
institutional priorities do not align,
resulting in us having to shelve a
project that we otherwise would have
initiated.

Whitten: I'm in the beginning of my
fifth year at Upstate. The expectation,
after my first year, was that we needed
to transition to an auxiliary. We have
done well. This year might be difficult
as our freshman enrollment is lower
than expected. But I feel good about
where we are at, even with numbers a
little down.
Challenges we face include a huge
overhead! I find myself constantly
explaining to other campus offices
that we have to pay our own way (so,
no, visiting faculty can't stay for free).
Folks do look at our budget and see
our year-end numbers. They've been
good, and that means we may start
to have to pay for landscaping and
parking lot maintenance in our area.
This year we are being billed, for the
first time, for all of our network and
information technology needs. But we
also, for the first time, are receiving
payment from academic affairs for
the use of our classroom spaces. As
for opportunities, we are given a lot of
control over our budget. It has helped
us create some new positions, albeit
temporary ones, officially.

Schneller: Our structure can be
described as a hybrid since we have
retained housing, and our two new
facilities are part of the Board of
Regents of the University System of
Georgia (USG) Phase I of its PublicPrivate Partnership (P3) initiative for
student housing. We operate as an
auxiliary for our retained housing,
and we receive a retained services

payment related to our operations
in the P3 housing. We monitor our
occupancy closely as it has budget
implications for what we are able to do
programmatically for our students.

significantly increase, we would have
to substantiate the need for additional
space. As a state institution we are also
subject to multiple layers of support in
order to engage in expansion ventures.

Lauer: We are privileged to operate

Anderson-Isaacson: We typically are

as an auxiliary, and that has been
key in our ability to both renovate
and now construct new housing. We
are operating with one college-wide
strategic plan, and the residential
experience is a priority. This helps us
operate as one college, and that is truly
refreshing.

unable to expand our housing stock
without a donor, and donors typically
do not like to fund housing facilities.
Fortunately, we were able to secure two
donors about 10 years ago to build two
new suite/apartment-style housing
facilities which significantly improved
our housing options for students. 

TS: As a smaller campus, are there
specific challenges that you face when
it comes to expanding and updating
your housing stock? How are you able
to meet those needs?

Schneller: I can speak to the challenge
of updating our retained housing.
I've learned more about project
management because I have served
in multiple capacities from leading a
pre-bid meeting to working as a standin central facilities project manager. I
have relied on getting expert feedback
from other colleagues at other
campuses and know I've made sound
major facilities decisions based on that
feedback.

Whitten: There have been a lot of
conversations about adding more beds.
I've been a proponent of adding more
apartment-style housing by acquiring
one of the nearby off-campus
properties. That option would provide
us more flexibility (I would love to see
us have an option for students with
children). Our current on-campus
apartments stay full. In fact, last year,
during reapplication we started the
process in February and had filled our
apartments the same month.

Shaikh: Our current supply of
housing and student demand is at
an equilibrium. Should demand
NOVEMBER + DECEMBER 2016

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Talking Stick - November/December 2016

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