A requested increase to the campus improvement fee will help fund Eastern’s next capital project, a new science facility, and some deferred maintenance in the existing facilities.

The fee, which is currently $12 per semester hour, will increase by $2.50 each year for four years.

Student who take 15 hours each semester currently pay $360 a year toward the campus improvement fee. Students enrolling in Fall 2014 and after will pay $660 each year.

President Bill Perry, who requested the increase, said it would generate $7.5 million in the first four years. That initial money would be used to fund some of the $16 million of deferred maintenance in the Physical Science and Life Science buildings.

The maintenance will include the installation of movable casings, which can be rearranged to fit different needs and moved around as necessary.

“Science instruction affects everyone,” Perry said. “Everyone has to take a science general education class. Even those who transfer in from community colleges will often take psychology here, which is in the Physical Science Building.”

Over the following 10 years, Perry said the increase would fund $30 million of construction for a new facility. This money will be supplemented with philanthropic funding and federal sources.

The science facility is a key focus of Eastern’s capital campaign, the largest in university history, currently in the silent phase. The campaign will go public in the fall.

The Physical Science Building was opened in 1938. The Life Science Building opened in 1960.

Sarah Ruholl can be reached at 581-7942 or seruholl2@eiu.edu.

Junior geology major Andrew Kunz spends his Monday afternoon in the Physical Sciences Building making fuel cells for undergraduate research.(Danny Damiani/The Daily Eastern News)

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