CCRI president hopes to see a dorm in 2012

When Community College of Rhode Island President Ray M. Di Pasquale looks out his office window at the school’s Knight Campus in Warwick, he sees a wooded patch of land that he says would be a perfect place for what, until recently, was unheard of for community colleges: a dormitory.
Cautioning that plans are still preliminary, Di Pasquale on Jan. 11 said that school administrators will be seeking to construct a 200-bed residence hall at the Knight Campus in the coming years.
Di Pasquale told Providence Business News that he foresees nothing being built until 2012, but school officials already have put a dollar amount to the construction costs – $25 million – and have gained the approval of the R.I. Board of Higher Education to proceed with preliminary ly plans.
The proposed residence hall is part of a series of major improvements CCRI is hoping to make over the next several years, including additions and renovations at the Warwick and Lincoln campuses and the construction of a nursing building.
Most of the school’s 17,000 students are Rhode Island residents, but a dorm would give some students a fuller college experience, Di Pasquale said. And on-campus housing would make it easier to attract international students and student athletes from out of state, he added.
Di Pasquale noted that contingents of educators from China and the Dominican Republic looking to build partnerships with U.S. schools recently visited CCRI. “But we’re at a disadvantage because we have no place to house them,” he said, referring to international students.
Why does a two-year community college in Rhode Island that, for the most part, serves the local population, care about international students?
Such partnerships could, in part, lead to a better college experience for local CCRI students, Di Pasquale said. For instance, while Chinese students could enroll here, local students could possibly be able to go overseas for schooling.
Attracting people from other countries would make the student population more diverse, Di Pasquale added. “It would give them a flavor of the international world.”
Other community colleges nationwide have taken a similar step in recent years. The American Association of Community Colleges says 310 of the nation’s 1,195 community colleges and junior colleges provide some type of on-campus housing.
In fact, Munroe Community College, in Rochester, N.Y., had such success with its first 410-bed residence hall, built in 2003, it opened another one last fall.
Under CCRI’s plans, construction would be financed by a bond issue and would not require taxpayer contributions. Housing fees from students living in the dorm would pay off the bond, Di Pasquale said.
The idea is still a long way off. CCRI must still get the endorsement of the Carcieri administration, and the proposed bond issue would have to be approved by the R.I. General Assembly before it could be placed before voters in a statewide ballot.
Right now, Di Pasquale said, there are more pressing matters, such as navigating the four-campus school through the state budget crisis.
“But we don’t want to lose track of [the dormitory plans],” he added.
The school’s list of needs includes other major projects. Among the proposed capital improvements outlined in a recent written brief for state legislators:
• A 50,000-square-foot addition to the Flanagan campus in Lincoln, which would add 15 classrooms, lab space and faculty offices. Cost: $22 million.
• An overhaul of the main building and the surrounding infrastructure at the Knight campus. Cost: $17 million.
• New and renovated athletic facilities, including construction of an indoor track and tennis courts at the Lincoln and Warwick campuses. Cost: $10 million. •