Chancellor seeks $1 million in planning funds for pilot apartment-style campus housing on rural state colleges

Beth Mapp, chancellor of the State Colleges system, asked the Senate committee for planning funds to explore replacing aging dormitories with modern, apartment-style housing on rural campuses.

"We are exploring the possibility of replacing aging dormitories with modern, flexible, apartment-style housing that can support not just traditional undergraduates, but workforce learners, transfer students, faculty, even community members," Chancellor Beth Mapp said. She told senators the concept is intended to serve year-round learners and rural communities by offering flexible leases, kitchenettes and privacy that many current residence halls do not provide.

Mapp described the plan as an infrastructure modernization that could support rural revitalization and said the system would pilot buildings on campuses such as Johnson, Randolph or Linden. The example illustration she showed proposed a two-sided apartment complex capable of 60 units; the system27s plan would build half the project initially (about 30 units) and add the remainder later. Mapp said Johnson already has existing apartment-style housing that has performed well and that the new model would be designed to attract private investment. She asked senators for $1 million in planning and design funds to complete studies and community engagement necessary to proceed.

Senators asked questions about specific campuses, site logistics and the Johnson example; Chancellor Mapp said the project was still in an exploratory phase and that the proposal was not yet included in the capital bill funding the committee was debating. Committee members suggested follow-up visits during the summer and invited further outreach as the idea develops.

No appropriation for the housing concept was included in the capital bill materials discussed during this hearing; Mapp asked only for planning funds to advance the concept.