Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1960 [PAGE 64]

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1958]

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

6l

The "temporary" barracks buildings acquired after the War have now been in use for a decade. Thus, the University must use more and more of its funds for remodeling and renovation of existing buildings. Over #5,000,000 of the 1957 request of the University was needed for such work.

M A K I N G ROOM FOR THE F U T U R E

That an unprecedented number of students will want to enroll in our colleges and universities in the next ten to fifteen years hardly needs demonstration at this date. The accelerated building of public schools to take care of our present school-age population is everyday evidence of what is to come at the university level. The report of the President's Committee on Education Beyond the High School finds t h a t enrollments will double. The Illinois Joint Commission of Higher Education made a detailed study of the outlook for Illinois and arrived at the same conclusion. The present high enrollments in our universities come from the smallest collegeage group in the past twenty-five years. They represent children born during the period when marriages and birth rates reached their lowest point. The reason for the current level, in spite of the small total number from which the students are drawn, is that the proportion of college-age youth who go to college has been climbing rapidly. When this increased ratio of actual to potential enrollments is applied to t h e college population in the decade between i960 and 1970, there is only one answer. Since the birth rates doubled during and after the War compared with the previous decade, we must prepare for at least twice as many college students before 1970. What does this mean in terms of buildings and space to be provided? Obviously, it does not mean duplicating the entire physical plant of the University, for many functions can be performed for much larger numbers with relatively small additions of space. After its study of coming needs the University has prepared a building program for the five biennia, 1959-69, which calls for total expenditures as follows: Chicago Professional Colleges $ 32 500 000 Chicago Undergraduate Division — to provide permanent quarters for the present program and student body (with some latitude for expansion) $ 50 ooo 000 Urbana-Champaign $116 000 000 £198 500 000* There are, of course, certain assumptions that must be made in arriving at a figure to apply to a ten-year building program. For example, the figure given above for the Chicago Undergraduate Division provides largely only for a continuation of the present program on a permanent site, since the nature and timetable of expansion to four-year programs have not yet been determined. Other changes in programs or shifts in enrollments to courses requiring laboratory facilities would also increase these estimates of cost. It is assumed that the people of Illinois will want the University to continue its research and extension work and to find new ways to improve agriculture, to build better roads and bridges, to improve business practices, to build better and more economical homes, and to make this knowledge available through publications, lectures, conferences, and short courses both on and off the campus. All of this means that the figures are realistic assumptions about the character of future needs. They represent the best estimates that can be given today for the kind of program in the future that the people of Illinois have shown that they want and expect from the University of Illinois. P L A N N I N G PROCEDURES This is a long-range plan based upon uniform standards applied throughout the institution. The plan is flexible and susceptible to continuing refinement and revision. It is the result of a unique approach to planning which utilizes the faculty and staff from throughout the University as well as consultants. The procedure followed in developing the ten-year estimated needs started with the circulation of a carefully-designed questionnaire to all colleges and departments, asking them to apply the given standards (developed by the University Space Planning Office) to determine their present space deficiencies and the facilities required to accommodate a 75 per cent increase in enrollment by 1969. * This does not include residence halls, which are largely self-supporting.