Allen Community College will soon welcome the largest architectural upgrade and building renovation project its Iola campus has seen since its creation nearly 50 years ago.
And it will do so without raising tuition on students and without appealing to the community for a bond referendum.
The board of trustees voted Tuesday night to approve funding for the $6 million project, which, in reshaping the building’s north-easterly facade, will give the college a brand-new, 4,000-square-foot sunlit commons area, two spacious game rooms, a new bookstore, a new mailroom and new IT room, a new campus services area, a suite of sound-proof study rooms, a remodeled kitchen and cafeteria, a refurbished boardroom and conference room, a new shipping area, and a canopied entryway spanning the length and width of a furnished, lanai-style patio. And much else besides.
The entire overhaul, which will be completed in stages, should be ripe for a ribbon-cutting by January of 2019.
The project, which will nearly double the size of the existing student center, is the product of years of forethought and planning, explained board chairman Ken McGuffin. “We’ve been discussing this for a long time. We’ve had student input, we’ve had administrative input, and it’s been in our 5-year master plan. This is long overdue and I, for one, can’t wait to see it.” McGuffin went on to highlight the multi-use spaces included in the renovation — an enlarged conference room, namely, and a well-appointed commons area — which will double as venues for various community meetings and local events. He called the project “a win-win for Allen and for the entire area.”
ACC’S VICE PRESIDENT for finance and operations, Brian Counsil, described in full the funding mechanism by which the college was able to give life to this project. Drawing $1.8 million from the general fund, $1.2 million from capital outlay and $3 million from auxiliary enterprises — a fund that includes, among other non-academic services, housing, book rental and cafeteria receipts — the college will be able to foot the bill for the total cost of the project plus any contingency expenses that surface between now and the unveiling.
The fiscal solution described by Counsil was greeted by a chorus of huzzahs at Tuesday’s board meeting.
“I’m new on the board, so I can say this,” chimed Mary Kay Heard. “I think it’s amazing that you have prepared for this for years, and now you have the money to do what you want to do. You’re not borrowing it and you’re not paying interest. It’s a big deal to plan ahead and then to get it done.”
McGuffin was of the same mind: “When you don’t have to borrow money, that’s a wonderful thing.”
Counsil, who — along with ACC President John Masterson — was instrumental in helping to steer the negotiations with Ottawa-based Loyd Builders onto these happy shores, praised those long-serving trustees and administrators, like Masterson, who have spent years planning this project and being “mindful of their fiscal responsibilities.”
“One of their main goals was to be able to do this project without reaching a hand out and asking constituents for more money,” said Counsil. “We’re not raising tuition to do it. We’re not asking for a mill levy increase to do it. … This is an educational institution. You want to teach students about personal finance and responsibility, and I think this is a great way to show them that we’re being fiscally responsible.”
ANOTHER THING students like to be shown? Big-screen TVs. A snack bar. Plush furniture, a quiet place to study, plenty of outlets, free Wi-Fi, a large cafeteria and adjacent cafe, fully-stocked game rooms with window seating. All of which are included in the new student center.
“We have just outgrown the existing student center and cafeteria,” said Masterson. “It was originally needed to accomodate a residence hall with 96 students. Now, we have 300 students here. … See, we never really had a place where students felt comfortable congregating for recreation and studying and those kinds of things, and these ideas have all been built into the design of this new building.”
As Allen Community College continues to increase its footprint across the state with the rapid growth of its online education program, Masterson — in expanding and modernizing ACC’s housing options and in investing in this new center — is gratified to be infusing a still-new dynamism into Iola’s traditional brick-and-mortar campus. “We have all been really excited to get started on this,” said the longtime president. “Now, here we are.”
Loyd Builders, who oversaw a similar upgrade at Neosho Community College’s Ottawa campus, will break ground on the ACC project March 1. Renovations to the interior of the student center — including the cafeteria and kitchen — will be complete by August 2018. Final completion of the project, including the new addition, is due January 2019.
