Purdue officials hail passage of higher education bill

"By passing this bonding authority, the General Assembly has given Purdue some of the tools it needs to address a very serious repair and rehabilitation backlog," Purdue President Martin C. Jischke said. "I applaud our legislators for recognizing the importance of protecting Indiana's investment in higher education facilities. We are especially grateful to Sen. Ron Alting and Rep. Sheila Klinker for their extraordinary efforts. They played key roles by communicating the importance of this legislation to the leadership of their respective houses."

The bill, which was authored by Rep. Larry Buell of Indianapolis, passed both legislative houses by large majorities and now awaits signature by Gov. Mitch Daniels.

The new law would allow Purdue to issue up to $60 million in bonds to begin to address a deferred maintenance backlog estimated at more than $400 million. The backlog built up over the past 10 years as the state was able to fund only a fraction of the repair and rehabilitation formula created to address ongoing maintenance needs, said Joseph L. Bennett, Purdue vice president for university relations.

"Purdue has a multifaceted strategy for addressing this critical problem," Bennett said. "The strategy includes a combination of reallocations of general funds; a special fee, which students will pay beginning with the class that enrolls in the fall of 2006; overhead from external grant funding; targeted private fund raising; and future state requests. The new bonding authority is an important step in Purdue's efforts to reverse a trend that has been a significant concern for the university and the state."

Source: Joseph L. Bennett, (765) 494-2082, jlbennett@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

To the News Service home page